"the place where I visited"

Question

(1) I forget the name of the place where I visited yesterday.(2) I forget the name of the place that I visited yesterday.I know (2) is OK, but what about (1)? Is it really wrong? I have a couple of sites saying it is wrong to use "where" there.

Inchoateknowledge · Accepted Answer

To visit sg. what? that.

CalifJim · Answer

The first one is quite awkward to my ear.
The place in question is the object of the verb visit. So the relative pronoun needs to be that.
In the case of other verbs like swim or jog, however, which are intransitive, there is no object, so place where will work just fine.

I forget the name of the place where I [swam / jogged] yesterday.

Note the difference: I visited it. I swam there.
So place where is not incorrect in itself, but it is sometimes incorrect in a particular context.

CJ

Marius Hancu · Answer

1) is rare and literary, but possible, as visit can also be intransitive.

At the Back of the North Wind by MacDonald, George

I went into the house, where I visited often in the evenings.

See esp definition 2b here:

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visit

intransitive verb

1 obsolete : to make an official inspection
2 a : to make a call <spends most of her afternoons visiting> b : to stay as a guest <visits here for a month in every year>
3 : to carry on casual conversation : http://unabridged.merriam-webster.com/cgi-bin/unabridged?book=Third&va=chat<let's sit here and visit together for a while> <visiting with a neighbor on the telephone>
4 : to progress around the set with a figure in square dancing

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Teleostomi · Answer

Thank you very much, all teachers!

Anonymous · Answer

visit is transitive. In the sentence starting with where, there is no object for visit because where is a adverb in the sentence.( to + the place ).

That or which can connect the sentence acting conjunction and object at the sametime, but not where.

"the place where I visited"

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