Learn English – “What more” vs “what else” do you need

sentence-usage

I am providing you with food, shelter, clothes.

What more do you need

or

what else do you need?

Which one's correct?

Best Answer

Both more and else are syntactically fine in OP's example, and in many contexts they'll mean exactly the same thing.

But note that idiomatically, What more do you need? is far more likely when what's being asked is effectively a rhetorical question (implying the speaker thinks you either don't or shouldn't need anything else).

Also note that when using else, to some extent the distinction between a rhetorical question and a genuine enquiry can be made more explicit by stress/emphasis...

1: What else do you need? (Probably: You don't need anything else - just get on with it)
2: What else do you need? (Probably: If you need anything else please tell me)

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