254 What’s More and Whatever
When complemented, what is/ ’s/ was more is typically followed by an adjec-
tive. For example, in COCA, what’s more Adj occurs 361 times or 82 percent
(out of a total of 442 complemented forms), what is more Adj occurs 302 times
or 87 percent (out of 249 total forms), and what was more Adj occurs 83 times
or 81 percent (out of 102 total forms). By far the most common adjective in
COCA is important ; also occurring frequently are likely , signifi cant , interest-
ing , fun , alarming , diffi cult , remarkable , amazing , dangerous , and surprising.
In these cases, what is/ ’s/ was more Adj may function as a parenthetical (2a– b),
as what Kaltenböck classifi es as a nominal non- restrictive relative clause par-
enthetical (2007: 29). More often it is the subject of a pseudo- cleft sentence
(followed by a to- infi nitive, a that- clause, or an NP) (2c– e).^3 It occurs only
occasionally as part of other syntactic structures, e.g., as a direct object (3). It
is rarely interrogative (4).
(2) a. Of course she can, darling. But what ’ s more important , she can even do nice
normal things like other babies do, even stupid ones. Watch her crawl! (2004
Femspec [COCA])
b. What is more signifi cant , it portrays a lion, with open mouth and protruding
tongue, (1994 African Arts [COCA])
c. What ’ s more important is to honor the spirit of the dish. (2011 Denver Post
[COCA])
d. What is more remarkable is that the underlying geology of these older sur-
faces is rich in carbonates (2007 Bioscience [COCA])
e. What is more surprising is the clustering found in this early cosmic era.
(1998 Astronomy [COCA])
(3) a. But at the end of the day I know what’s more important (2009 Sports
Illustrated [COCA])
b. I often ask myself what’s more important in a director’s career – talent or
perseverance? (2003 New York Times [COCA])
(4) a. What ’ s more fun than a big Lego for a clock? (2012 Parenting Early Years
[COCA])
b. After all, Vogel reasoned, what ’ s more at the core of America than eradicat-
ing slavery? (1999 Denver Post [COCA])
c. What ’ s more important to you, the words or the music, when you write?
(2001 NPR_ ATC [COCA])
9.2.1 The Meaning of Parenthetical What’s More
In the parenthetical what’s more construction, the what- clause is gener-
ally seen as functioning as a speaker “comment” on the clause that follows
3 For example, what is more important is parenthetical 34% of the time in COCA.