For English native speakers: Is it correct to say "What's her age?" instead of "How old is she?"

Question

I teach English as a foreign language, but I'm a non-native speaker. One of my exam questions was "Form a question for the following answers". Some of my students wrote "What's her age?" intead of "How old is she" and "What's her country?" instead of "Where's she from?". I think that it is grammatically correct, but I've never heard anyone using it nor I've ever seen it written before. So is it ok? Or should I deduct marks :(

Answer 1

I would say that whilst ' What's her age?' is correct the wording does not make it sound polite "How old is she?'is far more common and sounds politer. For my mind 'What's her country' is incorrect it would lead one to believe she possesses a country so maybe you could ask it to the Queen of England! But for us mere mortals the correct question would be 'Where is she from?'

Answer 2

Hi! I'm not a native English speaker, but in a month I'm going to university to study English, because I'd like to become a teacher. That means that I have no some specific knowledge now, I've just finished high school...
Anyway, I was surprised when I saw such a question here. I don't think you should be 100 % sure if some of the answers are correct or not. That's why I recommend you to go to another site and check it, or to ask people who are really competent to give you a right answers.
I recommend you to go to BBC's site, languages menu and you'll find 'learn English with the BBC'. Here's the link:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/
I'm sure it'll help you, since you can ask them questions on your problems. I saw you asked a question about say/tell, hear/listen and so on. You can also find it there.
Good luck!

Answer 3

"What's her age?" is a correct English question, and I think people would answer it the same way as "How old is she?" However, "How old is she?" is much more common for English speakers (at least of my dialect of English) to say.

I assume the answer to the question was something like "She is 20 years old." If you ask a native speaker "What's her age?", and they give a complete sentence answer, the answer could be something like, "Her age is 20." So it's not exactly the same.

Not knowing your students (and especially not knowing their level), I'm not sure how to advise you. I'd probably mark it right.

Answer 4

You're a teacher and you're coming on this site to ask that question?? Sigh...

Both are correct grammatically, but incorrect when it comes to the daily use of the language. Do not deduct marks unless the course content is daily language.

Answer 5

Either one is fine, as long as they get their point across. They're both grammatically correct and I have no problem understanding them. I've heard it plenty from non-native speakers, because the translation is closer to their native language. Don't deduct points!

Answer 6

"How old is she?" sounds more correct to me. Even though I don't think there is anything really wrong with "What's her age?". It's just that people usually don't ask "What's her age?"

Same with "Where's she from?" That is how people usually say it. Even though I can't see anything technically wrong with "What's her country?" -- You just usually don't hear the question asked that way.

Maybe you could explain that both are technically correct, but if the say "What's her age?" people will wonder if you are a non-native speaker because it isn't the usual way of asking the question.

Answer 7

Most english speaking people, at least in America say "How old is she," but either one works and is understandable. And correct. I've never heard anyone say "What's her country" but there's nothing wrong with it either. As long as you can communicate with someone then it's fine. I wouldn't deduct anything.

Answer 8

What's her age? is fine. What's her country? this one will be communicated and understood but not what is used in the english native language. Where is she from? is correct.

Answer 9

hmm, that's a tough one! I was born, raised, and educated in London England, and I would have to say that although what's her age and country are technically, gramatically correct... it's not really the accepted manner of speaking. I would therefore deduct minimal marks, and address the issue in class :)

Answer 10

"-er" is a comparison. Simply saying "old" and "big" implies absolutism - a very old person or a very big (or fat/tall) woman. Saying "older" and "bigger" covers a bigger range of people, for example, saying "an older guy" can mean anyone who is older than the respective person/group you are comparing to. That may not necessarily mean an old grandpa/grandma. It can be someone as young as 30 if you are comparing to a group of teenagers. Same goes for the term "bigger".