"What about" and "how about" are practically interchangeable for making suggestions, but "what about" can also draw attention to something OMITTED or OVERLOOKED; "how about" is slightly more informal.
WHAT ABOUT: three main uses. (1) SUGGESTION: "What about meeting on Tuesday?" = why not meet on Tuesday? (alternative proposal). (2) OMITTED ELEMENT: "We discussed the budget, timeline, and team — but what about the risk assessment?" = we left out the risk assessment. This use is EXCLUSIVE to WHAT ABOUT (HOW ABOUT cannot be used to point out something omitted). (3) ASKING SOMEONE'S OPINION: "What about you? Are you coming?" WHAT ABOUT can be followed by: noun, gerund (-ing), or clause. Position: always at the beginning of a question.
What about scheduling the retrospective for Thursday afternoon? That would give the team two days to document their observations after the sprint closes.
We have covered pricing, distribution, and target demographics in the strategy document — but what about the post-sale support and customer retention plan?
What about the compliance implications of processing data in that jurisdiction? Has the legal team reviewed the proposed data architecture?
HOW ABOUT: mainly for SUGGESTIONS, slightly more informal than WHAT ABOUT. "How about a coffee before the meeting?" "How about we move the deadline to Friday?" HOW ABOUT can be followed by: noun, gerund, or a clause with "we." HOW ABOUT + we + verb = very colloquial but correct: "How about we order pizza?" (equivalent to "What about ordering pizza?"). HOW ABOUT CANNOT be used to point out an omitted element like WHAT ABOUT: "We discussed everything — but how about the risk?" = sounds like a suggestion, not "we have left out the risk." WHAT ABOUT is the only one that works as "and what has been left out?"
How about we pilot the new pricing model in two markets first, gather the data over ninety days, and then make a decision about a broader rollout?
How about presenting the technical roadmap in a visual format this time? The executive team tends to engage better with a diagram than with a dense written document.
How about a brief stand-up call on Monday morning to align priorities before the client presentation on Wednesday? It should take no more than fifteen minutes.
Common mistake
Most frequent error: using HOW ABOUT where WHAT ABOUT is needed to point out something omitted. "We planned everything — how about the exit strategy?" = sounds like a suggestion ("why not do an exit strategy?"). The correct meaning ("we left out the exit strategy from the plan") requires WHAT ABOUT: "We planned everything — but WHAT ABOUT the exit strategy?" Other error: "What about to submit it early?" = INCORRECT. After WHAT ABOUT and HOW ABOUT: noun or GERUND (-ing), never infinitive with TO: "What about SUBMITTING it early?" / "How about SUBMITTING it early?"
Trick to remember it
The OMISSION TEST: do you want to say "we left this out / we have not talked about this"? = WHAT ABOUT (EXCLUSIVE for pointing out omitted elements). Do you want to make a pure SUGGESTION (propose something new or alternative)? = HOW ABOUT or WHAT ABOUT (interchangeable). Structure: WHAT ABOUT / HOW ABOUT + noun OR gerund (-ing). "What about Tuesday?" (noun). "How about meeting Tuesday?" (gerund). Never: "what about to meet" (infinitive with TO). Quick test: can I substitute "have we considered X?" = suggestion = both. Can I substitute "we forgot about X"? = omitted element = only WHAT ABOUT.
Quick rule
How about = suggestions (informal). What about = suggestions + pointing out omitted elements. "How about Tuesday?" / "What about Tuesday?" (both = suggestion). "We forgot the budget — what about the projections?" (omitted element = only what about). Always + noun or gerund (-ing), never + infinitive.
Did you know?
The expression "how about" is one of the clearest examples of English CONVERSATIONAL DISCOURSE — structures that are grammatically "incomplete" or cannot be analyzed according to traditional sentence grammar, but are perfectly natural and understandable in everyday communication. "How about coffee?" has no visible main verb, but every native English speaker understands it as "How about [having/getting] coffee?" These conversational ellipses (omission of contextually recoverable elements) are universal in human languages, but each language has its own patterns. In Spanish: "¿Un cafe?" (same elliptic structure). In Japanese: "Kohi wa?" (topic marker + coffee). The structure "How about X?" is so productive in English that it has been lexicalized almost as a proposal interjection — it does not need to be decomposed into its parts to be understood.
Exercise 1 · Pick the right one
We have reviewed the technical architecture, the rollout plan, and the training schedule — but _____ the data migration risks and the contingency protocol?
Exercise 2 · Pick the right one
The current schedule looks too compressed. _____ extending the pilot phase by three weeks to gather more statistically robust data before the full launch?
Exercise 3 · Form the word
How about = suggestions (informal). What about = suggestions + pointing out omitted elements. "How about Tuesday?" / "What about Tuesday?" (both = suggestion). "We forgot the budget — what about the projections?" (omitted element = only what about). Always + noun or gerund (-ing), never + infinitive.
Most frequent error: using HOW ABOUT where WHAT ABOUT is needed to point out something omitted. "We planned everything — how about the exit strategy?" = sounds like a suggestion ("why not do an exit strategy?"). The correct meaning ("we left out the exit strategy from the plan") requires WHAT ABOUT: "We planned everything — but WHAT ABOUT the exit strategy?" Other error: "What about to submit it early?" = INCORRECT. After WHAT ABOUT and HOW ABOUT: noun or GERUND (-ing), never infinitive with TO: "What about SUBMITTING it early?" / "How about SUBMITTING it early?"
The OMISSION TEST: do you want to say "we left this out / we have not talked about this"? = WHAT ABOUT (EXCLUSIVE for pointing out omitted elements). Do you want to make a pure SUGGESTION (propose something new or alternative)? = HOW ABOUT or WHAT ABOUT (interchangeable). Structure: WHAT ABOUT / HOW ABOUT + noun OR gerund (-ing). "What about Tuesday?" (noun). "How about meeting Tuesday?" (gerund). Never: "what about to meet" (infinitive with TO). Quick test: can I substitute "have we considered X?" = suggestion = both. Can I substitute "we forgot about X"? = omitted element = only WHAT ABOUT.
Bryan López
Founder of SpeakUP Academy