What did John give TO his mother??

Question

Do these two questions sound natural to English speakers?a) What did John give TO his mother??b) What did John give  his mother??Thanks

BarbaraPA · Accepted Answer

They both sound fine to me.

Philip · Answer

GoraDo these two questions sound natural to English speakers?

a) What did John give TO his mother?? prepositional phrase

vs

b) What did John give his mother?? indirect object

Thanks
Both are fine.

Marius Hancu · Answer

At the New York Times:

"gave his mother" 28 Results, which seems to be getting some advantage over:
"gave to his mother" 3 Results

Diamondrg · Answer

GoraDo these two questions sound natural to English speakers?

a) What did John give TO his mother??

b) What did John give his mother??

Thanks

give sth to sb

give sb sth

a) give WHAT his mother

b) give his mother WHAT

so both are correct.

Yankee · Answer

Diamondrggive sth to sb
give sb sth

a) give WHAT to his mother

b) give his mother WHAT

so both are correct.

Just a little typo help.

Diamondrg · Answer

Yankee
Diamondrggive sth to sb

give sb sth

a) give WHAT to his mother

b) give his mother WHAT

so both are correct.

Just a little typo help.

Thank you, Yankee.

Cool Breeze · Answer

Yankee
Diamondrggive sth to sb
give sb sth

a) give WHAT to his mother

b) give his mother WHAT

so both are correct.

Just a little typo help.

When a sentence is in the passive voice, there is a genuine choice, or at least that's what most grammarians say:
Nothing was given [to] him.
It sounds better with the preposition to my ears.

Cheers
CB

Philip · Answer

Nothing was given [to] him.
It sounds better with the preposition to my ears.

BE prefers without [to]...AE the opposite.

What did John give TO his mother??

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