The chunks of English (3): What's the matter with...?

The chunks of English (3):
What's the matter with...?

Recently, a student asked me, "What does matter mean?" She had noticed that the word, matter, occurs quite often in English and wanted a simple translation of this word. I had to explain that matter is a little complicated. One of my dictionaries, The Longman Advanced American Dictionary (published in 2000), gives 32 meanings for matter and 17 spoken phrases. Examples from this dictionary include:

It's no laughing matter.
That's a matter of opinion.
No matter what happens.
As a matter of fact..... (and many others)

Nouns like matter, point, way, thing are among the most common nouns in English. You will find that they occur in hundreds of set phrases and idioms. Rather than ask, "What does matter mean?" I think it is more useful to ask, "What are some of the typical phrases in which matter occurs?" Knowing these phrases and being able to use them will be much more useful than spending a lot of time worrying about the meaning of matter.

HOWEVER, this does not mean you should go away now and try to learn all these phrases in one go. Instead, look out for examples of matter when you are reading and gradually build up your collection. To get you started, let's look at one group of matter phrases in this lesson. Let's look at phrases built around the notion of What's the matter with...?

...the matter with...

WHAT'S THE MATTER (WITH YOU/HIM/HER/ME)?
We can ask this question in situations where people seem angry, sad, sick...etc:

George seems very bad tempered recently. What's the matter with him?
What's the matter with Jean? I saw her crying just now.
What's the matter with me? I've been feeling really tired this week.

When we are speaking directly to the person who has the problem, we don't need to say with you:

You don't seem happy lately. What's the matter?

We can make "What's the matter?" a bit stronger, by adding phrases like these after What:

What on earth's the matter with that guy?
What the hell's the matter with you?

(Note: Be careful. Some people may be offended by the use of hell in these expressions).

WHAT'S THE MATTER WITH IT?
We can also use What's the matter..? when we are talking about things which cause problems:

What's the matter with this radio? I can't pick up any stations on it.
A:This soup tastes a bit strange.
B: Why? What's the matter with it?

SOMETHING THE MATTER WITH...
These expressions are related to What's the matter...? They can take 2 forms: Something's the matter with (him); or There's something the matter with him / There must be something the matter with him:

George seems very bad tempered recently. There must be something the matter with him.
Is there something the matter with Jean? I've just seen her crying?
There's something the matter with this radio. I'm going to take it back to the store.
(Patient to doctor): There's something the matter with my back. It hurts whenever I try to bend down.

NOTHING THE MATTER WITH...
Similarly, if we can't find a problem, we can say:
Nothing's the matter with (him); or There's nothing the matter with (him).

(Doctor to patient): You don't need to come to the clinic. There's nothing the matter with you.
Why are you complaining about the soup? I've just had a bowl, myself. There's nothing the matter with it.

Exercise

Complete the phrases in the sentences below:

Mike seems a bit nervous today. Is there _____________________?
You've been really miserable this week. What on earth ____________?
Nothing _______________. I've just been feeling tired. That's all.
Really? He's trying to sell his new car! There must _______________.

Please click here to check your answers.

Click below if you want to try some of my other one-point lessons:
Bob's One-Point Weekly Lesson Archive

If you want to see some other one-point lessons on chunks with matter, try these two lessons:
A useful phrase: to make matters worse
However much..., no matter how much