0

In the book Practical English Usage, on page number 253:

"Because no matter who, what, etc act like conjunctions, they must be used with two clauses.
 - No matter when you come, you’ll be welcome, (but not No matter when you come.)

to introduce just one clause, we can use It doesn't matter.
 - It doesn’t matter when you come."

I haven't understood what this quoted text means. can somebody tell me what it means?

enter image description here

Improve this question

1 Answer 1

Reset to default
1

"It doesn't matter [question-word]..." can be used to introduce one clause, or to link two clauses.

It doesn't matter what they say.
It doesn't matter what they say, I will always support you.

The phrase "No matter [question word]..." has the same meaning, but it can only be used to connect two clauses. The question-word can be who, when, what, which, etc. Here are a couple of examples.

[Clause 1] no matter [question-word] [clause 2]
I will support you no matter what they say

No matter [question-word] [clause 2], [clause 1]
No matter what they say, I will support you

Improve this answer

You must log in to answer this question.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged .