I need a place in which to live

Question

Hi teachers

Today I'm going to ask about to infinite as an aadjective. Pleade check the sentences below first.

1. I need a place to live in. (0)

2. I need a place in which to live (0)

Both #1 and #2 are grammatical and I wonder why "which" is put before to infinitive.

3. I need a pencil to write with (0)

4. I need a oencil to which write (x)

If "in + which + to infinitive" is possible, how about other preposition as in #4?

As always thank you so much teachers.

Michelle Cha · Accepted Answer

Sorry teachers!

#4 should be rewritten in " I need a pencil to with which write.

CalifJim · Answer

Noun Phrase + Infinitive

Examples:

a place to live; a place to sleep; a place to eat
= somewhere to live; somewhere to sleep; somewhere to eat

someone to blame; someone to talk to; someone to vote for
something to do; something to read; something to eat
something to write with; something to believe in; something to talk about

a pen to write with; a book to read; a puzzle to solve; a movie star to talk about; an unfair rule to object to; a friend to rely on; people to see; things to do; a museum to visit; a painting to look at; some English words to practice; a specimen to examine; a sentence to analyze; a problem to contend with; ...

Personally, I would avoid patterns like "a place in which to live", "a painting at which to look", and "a pen with which to write". They are correct, but awkward and overly complex.

Any other word order is absolutely impossible: "a place to in which live" or "a place to which live in" or "a place in to which live" are all wrong.

I recommend sticking to NP + INF (+ Preposition), as in the examples above.

CJ

I need a place in which to live

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