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Jawel Posted 8 years ago
Grammar

Which friend did he find to study with?

The question is about what happens to phrases during the time of making them questions.

We know that the following sentence is a normal English sentence which is correct grammatically.

  • He found a friend to study with.

The bold part in the sentence is a phrase and "to study with" refers to "a friend". That's why it would be wrong to say "To study with, He found a friend".

The problem starts here. While asking a question, we have to separate them from each other and according to many linguistics, phrases separated in a question form don't refer to each other anymore, and those questions are generally wrong.

Do you think that the following questions are correct?

Who did he find to study with? Which friend did he find to study with?

I am not sure but my English teachers(native) said that they were awkward. Because there is "to study with" but there is no noun next to it. What do you think?

(Here, I am sharing with you a link which prohibits those kinds of questions such as "What did you sell a book about?" because of the same problem. http://www.ling.upenn.edu/~beatrice/syntax-textbook/ch12.html)

  

Top answer

Who did he find to study with? Which friend did he find to study with? Those are fine.

— Mister Micawber

  • Who did he find to study with?
  • Which friend did he find to study with?
  • Those are fine.
  • Jawel my English teachers(native) said that they were awkward.
  • Because there is "to study with" but there is no noun next to it.
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2 Answers
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JawelDo you think that the following questions are correct?Who did he find to study with? Which friend did he find to study with?

Those are fine.

Jawelmy English teachers(native) said that they were awkward. Because there is "to study with" but there is no noun next to it. What do you think?

I think your teachers a

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JawelI am sharing with you a link which prohibits those kinds of questions such as "What did you sell a book about?" because of the same problem.

Presumably you're saying that this has the same problem as "Who did you find to study with?" I can't agree. This one doesn't have an infinitive which can be interpreted as an infinitive of purpose, whereas the '

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