Could you help with a multiple choice question?

Question

We gave him _______ help we could.

a. which

b. what

c. that

d. the

correct answer: (b)，my answer:（d）

Could you explain why b is correct and others are wrong? Thanks a lot.

Answer 1

The answer I'd choose is B.

[edit]

OK, the reason? I'm not at all sure, it's just that I'm very good at multiple choice questions. I can't parse it out, it's an intuitive response. But the intuition is correct, I don't know why.

If you read the sentence with each of those potential words, the only one that reads right is B.

[edit].

Answer 2

"which" wouldn't be right because you're not deciding between multiple types of help.

"that" isn't it because... well, it just doesn't sound right.  "That" is usually used to specify, and you're not specifying anything.

"the" isn't necessarily wrong, it's just that "what" is the word typically used in that scenario.  The people in the situation are doing WHAT they can, or giving WHAT help they can.  It's hard to explain, and I'm not necessarily an expert... I was just really good at English in high school, haha.