Natural expression

Question

Could you tell me which one is right and natural among the following sentences? All of them are the expressions about checkout. Thank you in advance.

1. When do I check out?

2. What time will I check out?

3. When do I have to check out?

4. By what time do I have to leave the room?

David Hatton · Accepted Answer

lucas21c1. When do I check out?

Yes, natural enough but not really the best.

lucas21c2. What time will I check out?

Again, it's not wrong grammatically but doesn't give what you mean. It's asking when you will do it, rather than when you are supposed to do it. It's a question that can't really be answered in advance.

lucas21c3. When do I have to check out?

This is probably the most commonly used expression - it'd be my preferred option.

lucas21c4. By what time do I have to leave the room?

Technically correct but not very natural. Native speakers tend to be lazy and this sentence is too well constructed for natural speech in most situations!

Consider:

When do I have to leave the room by?

Not such precise grammar, perhaps - but it's what your average British English speaker would say.

When should I check out by?

Again, quite a natural thing to say although it doesn't perhaps have the formality of 'have to'.

I'm not sure how the grammarians stand on the use of a preposition at the end of a sentence but it's always done in speech, whether or not it's technically correct!

Natural expression

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