如何grammar point · tier 1 · 如何 — sentence-final tag offering a plan for a verdict (how about it?)
Sentence-final tag that lays out a proposal in full, then hands it to the listener for a verdict — how about it, what do you say.
字源 FORM what the parts do
如 is 女 beside 口 — following from a likeness, going along as. 何 is a man (亻) under a load; the question word borrowed the carrier, 可 lent only for sound, worn from kě to hé. Following-like and the borrowed what together ask which way a thing comes out. Set after a whole plan, the pair turns it over to the listener.
故事 STORY a scene to remember it by
A finished plan lies on the table; 如何 sits at its far end and slides it across for the other to weigh.
字源記憶法
框 · Frame
[full proposal / plan] ，如何 ？
觸 · Trigger
You have stated a complete plan and want the other person to accept or judge it, in a formal register.
序 · The move
1State the whole proposal as a finished clause first; leave 如何 for the very end.Could the clause before 如何 stand alone as a plan? If it still needs a verb or object, the proposal is not finished — 如何 has nothing to weigh.
2Keep 如何 unfilled and final; it tags the plan, it does not modify a verb inside it.Does 如何 sit before any verb (如何定)? Then it has slid forward into the fronted how-to-do use — pull it back to the end for the proposal tag.
3Reserve it for written or formal speech; drop to 怎麼樣 for the same offer in casual talk.Would 怎麼樣 sound right here? Then 如何 is the literary twin of the same move.
例 · Examples
1我們we把(disposal — act on the object)聚會gathering的時間time定在set at / fix at明天下午tomorrow afternoon，如何how about it？
Let's set the gathering for tomorrow afternoon — how about it?
如何 is the literary register of the offer and the same sentence-final tag; 怎麼樣 is the vernacular one. Same move, swap by formality: written or formal speech takes 如何, casual talk takes 怎麼樣.
The proposal tag sits sentence-final after a finished plan and asks for a verdict (定在明天，如何？). The same chars before a verb (如何定時間) ask the manner of the action, how to do it. Swap by position: end → offer the plan; before the verb → ask the method.
✗ 如何我們把時間定在明天？ → ✓ 我們把時間定在明天，如何？（如何 tags the finished plan at the end, it does not front it）
✗ 這個計畫如何好嗎？ → ✓ 這個計畫如何？（如何 is itself the question, no 好嗎 stacked after it）
✗ 你覺得這樣如何做？ → ✓ 你覺得這樣如何？（dropping the trailing 做 turns the method question back into the verdict tag）
English opens the offer with "how about" and fronts "how"; Chinese leaves 如何 at the tail, after the whole plan it is handing over.