¿Aprender español ha ayudado con tu inglés?

Question

I was searching for a restaurant in New York City and can across this question: "Which is the best restaurant in NYC?"

Normally I would have glossed right over this, but I had just read how the use of "cual" and qué is the exact opposite of their use in English--verbs should be preceded by "what", not "which." (The question should have been "What is the best...?")

I'm wondering if any of you have examples of where learning español has helped with your English.

Cheers.

In response to the comment below, I'm adding this def. from LEO Network concerning "what vs which."

"What is used to ask a question when there are an unknown number or infinite possibilities for an answer. You know that there are many, many ways that exist to address your question, and you want to find out—from all those possibilities that you might not even know about—the best way."

Also, from pearsonlongman.com: "Which of the restaurants is open on Sunday?" would be used "...when there are only two choices, or if both speaker and listener can visualize all the items under consideration"

Umm, I believe that "which" would be proper in this question as it is eliciting a choice from among many, whereas "what" is not used to elicit a choice. - Lector_Constante, Feb 1, 2012

Lector is correct, as I see it. - pesta, Feb 1, 2012

"What" asks for a definition or a technique. "Which" asks to choose from a domain of known types of things. - pesta, Feb 1, 2012

I appreciate the feedback. I've cited two references on this subject, but I'll take a "hit" for using an ambiguous example. - mtmonadnock, Feb 1, 2012

Answer 1

I used to say ''If I was...'' instead of ''If I were'' until I learned about the subjunctive tense in high school. : )

subjunctive mood... - michellech, Feb 1, 2012

Answer 2

I am ashamed to say that until I started to learn Spanish I could not have told you what was imperfect, perfect, preterit or any of the other tenses in English.( My only defense is that I studied physics!!!!!!) So I too have a better understanding of English through studying Spanish.

Coincidence--I too majored in physics. - mtmonadnock, Feb 1, 2012