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Please give the seats to the ones who need them more than you do.

I considered it writing as

Please give the food to the ones who need them more than what you do/need.

How the presence of 'what' changes its meaning?If 'seats' seem awkward, you could replace it with any other noun.

Also 'more than you do' ,'more than you need' and 'more than you do need', there all are grammatical and mean the same thing.Only the native speakers will chose the ones with which the flow is easy.Am I right?

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  • We can compare need to need, or thing-needed to thing-needed, but not need to thing-needed as you do with "what". – Tᴚoɯɐuo Jul 6 '16 at 12:39
  • invalid: whose need of something is greater than that which you need. ["what" = that (thing) which] – Tᴚoɯɐuo Jul 6 '16 at 12:42
  • I edited.Does it look fine? – Anubhav Singh Jul 6 '16 at 12:49
  • You have simply changed seats to food (which is non-count, and so "it" not "them"). But that change of noun, from seats to food, does not address the core problem, which is this: you are comparing a need (for food) to something needed ("what"), rather than comparing need to need. Consider this invalid comparison: They have greater need of food than the food you need. Valid: Their need of food is greater than your need of food. Their need of food is greater than yours. They need food more than you need food. They need food more than you do. – Tᴚoɯɐuo Jul 6 '16 at 13:06
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Let's use a simpler example to examine closely:

X needs Y more than you do.

This means X has a greater need for Y than you.

X needs Y more than what you need.

The what here sounds like it's trying to introduce an additional thing, let's call it Z. So this means X has a greater need for Y than the amount of need you have for Z.

So this should illustrate how the second sentence in your example seems to talking about a third random thing out of nowhere and is confusing.

You could say "X needs Y more than Y that you need" if you want to repeat Y for extra clarity. But this is not usual.

Also 'more than you do' ,'more than you need' and 'more than you do need', there all are grammatical and mean the same thing

When comparing two actions with than, the verb is typically the same on both sides of the than.

I walked farther than he walked.

Because the verb is the same, the second one can be omitted.

I walked farther than he.

If you want to use the emphatic mood, which is a form of to do + base word of verb, you can still do that.

I walked farther than he did walk.

But this really sounds awkward because usually only the do or did remains when this happens.

I walked farther than he did.

And that is the way it is usually said anyway, "I walked farther than he" has a "formal" flavor and I don't hear it in real speech to often.

Far more commonly would be "I walked farther than him" - this is fine because in this case than is a preposition - than can work either as a conjunction or preposition.

With the pronoun "you", there is a tendency to include the do/did afterward to make clear we are comparing two actions, needs, etc. and not a need to a person.

I need this vacation more than you. (I could be saying I need a vacation more than I need you, so to make it clear I don't mean that, I can say I need this vacation more than you do.)

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  • Explain 'X needs Y more than Y that you need' a bit please. – Anubhav Singh Jul 6 '16 at 14:07
  • E.g. "The poor need that money more than any money you need" - but if you say "The poor need that money more than what you need" - the "what" seems to not be talking about money. – LawrenceC Jul 6 '16 at 14:43
  • I need this vacation more than you do.Why a 'do' is omitted in yours? – Anubhav Singh Jul 6 '16 at 15:24
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    No particular reason here other than to illustrate you might hear/read it both ways. Adding do makes it more clear, if there could be an ambiguity. I would use it, but it's not strictly necessary. Do + verb is called the emphatic form, sometimes actually used to indicate emphasis, but English also uses the emphatic form for other reasons, such as the one mentioned in my answer. – LawrenceC Jul 6 '16 at 15:39

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