Take the 2-minute tour ×  Some of my colleagues have argued that
when a statement/question uses the work "how", the reader
expects to get a list of solutions.     • "How could world
hunger be solved?"   • "How can a search engine be implemented
using Python?"  Is this expectation correct? Does using "how"
implicitly indicate that the answer should be all possible
solutions/answers?  share|improve this question It is often used
rhetorically, too: For example, I might answer your first
question with "How do I know?". Or, as I ask my sons all the
time, "How can you walk past a full garbage can and not notice
that it needs to be taken out?" I promise you that I am not
expecting a logical answer to that question. –  JeffSahol Jun 19
'12 at 12:55 I'd say "how can" vs "how does one..." implies this
is an open question with more than one correct answer, but still
giving a single example for the answer should be perfectly
sufficient. –  SF. Jun 19 '12 at 13:05  4 Answers 4  up vote 5
down vote accepted  No, it doesn't