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Miles Lee Posted 14 years ago
Grammar
Grammar
For those native English speakers, would you help me with this?
Somebody argues that the sentence "He asked a lot of questions to her." is grammatical. I have been taught that is wrong. Are we not supposed to say " He asked a lot of questions of her." using the prepositin, 'of'?
The person explains that 'of' is used for a favor. For example, "He asked a favor of him."
But, I have been taught, we use 'of' for both questions and favors.
I really want to get this right.
Your help will be appericiated.
Somebody argues that the sentence "He asked a lot of questions to her." is grammatical. I have been taught that is wrong. Are we not supposed to say " He asked a lot of questions of her." using the prepositin, 'of'?
The person explains that 'of' is used for a favor. For example, "He asked a favor of him."
But, I have been taught, we use 'of' for both questions and favors.
I really want to get this right.
Your help will be appericiated.
Top answer
'He asked a lot of questions to her ' is not natural, but neither is 'He asked a lot of questions of her'. The simplest natural form is, 'He asked her a lot of questions'.
- 'He asked a lot of questions to her ' is not natural, but neither is 'He asked a lot of questions of her'.
- The simplest natural form is, 'He asked her a lot of questions'.
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7 Answers
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'He asked a lot of questions to her ' is not natural, but neither is 'He asked a lot of questions of her'. The simplest natural form is, 'He asked her a lot of questions'.
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Then, how about "He asked a favor of her." Does this sound odd too?
And what about "He posed/put a question to her."
Your help is necessary. ^^
And what about "He posed/put a question to her."
Your help is necessary. ^^
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"He asked a favor of her" is not as unnatural as "He asked a question of her", but even so, I would expect "He asked her to do him a favor." You don't hear "pose a question" very often, but it would take "to". We put a question to someone when the question is pointed.
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Now this question is getting a little bit complicated. Bear with me, guys.
Then, how about this sentence, "This is the suspect to whom the police asked many questions." ?
And what about this, "I'm not sure to whom I shoud ask this question."
Is any of these correct? Or are they both wrong? These sentences are not simple structures.
Maybe what I really want to know i
Then, how about this sentence, "This is the suspect to whom the police asked many questions." ?
And what about this, "I'm not sure to whom I shoud ask this question."
Is any of these correct? Or are they both wrong? These sentences are not simple structures.
Maybe what I really want to know i
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miles Lee "This is the suspect to whom the police asked many questions."No
miles Lee"I'm not sure to whom I shoud ask this question."No
miles LeeMaybe what I really want to know is "is 'to' compatible with ask if the sentence takes relative pronouns.?"No
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Thank you so much, fivejedjon. ^^ But can you explain why? I need some evidence. And how aoubt we chande the verb, ask to the verb, 'put'? Since 'put' is compatible with 'to', 'ask' can be replaced with 'put', right? Thank you, guys. We all
love true knowledge. I truely apprieciate your help. ^^
love true knowledge. I truely apprieciate your help. ^^
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miles LeeSomebody argues that the sentence "He asked a lot of questions to her." is grammatical."Somebody" is full of prunes.
With regard to dative alternation, there are three classes of verbs. 'ask' belongs to the category called "Non-Alternating - Double Object Only".
Read more about it at
CJ
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