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In my textbook I got the following phrase:
"뭐라고?"라는 말을 대산하려면 "어?"라고 끝을 올리면 됩니다.
I understand what the sentence wants to tell me, but can somebody explain it in more details to me, please? What does this sentence exactly mean? And especially, is this grammar reasonable?
It means:
Instead of "뭐라고?", you can also say "어?" with voice raised at the end.
Probably it's best to consider that "하면서" is omitted after "'어?'라고".
"뭐라고?"라는 말을 대신하려면 = in order to replace the phrase "뭐라고?"
"어?"라고 [하면서] 끝을 올리(면) = say "어?" and raise the end
-면 됩니다 = [you] can
"뭐라고" and "어?" are both used to mean "Sorry, what did you say?" / "Pardon?" / "Sorry, what?" / etc. (Also note that both are informal and non-polite - "어?" is really informal.)
For beginners, I'd advise sticking to "뭐라고?" (or a more polite version "뭐라고요?") because "어" can have many meanings depending on how you say it - "yes" / "okay" / "YES!" / "uhh.." / "huh?" / etc.
@jick answer is great, but to supplement
"뭐라고?" mean "pardon?"(It is the same until raising the end note) "어?" mean "eh?"
Neither is formal.
