I can't find any place to sit (in?).

[sitifan]

1. I can't find any place to sit.
2. I can't find any place to sit in.
3 I can't find any place to live.
4 I can't find any place to live in.
Which of the above sentences is not acceptable to native speakers?

 

[emsr2d2]

I can't think of a natural context for #2. Note that "anywhere" would be more natural than "any place" in all four.

 

[sitifan]

1. I can't find any place to sit.
2. I can't find any place to sit in.
*5. I can't find any chair to sit.
6. I can't find any chair to sit on.
#2 is grammatically correct, isn't it?

 

[sitifan]

I can't think of a natural context for #2. Note that "anywhere" would be more natural than "any place" in all four.

So, there was no need of allowing 'them to continue 'because they were not going lo find any place to sit in.
https://books.google.com.tw/books?i...QAg#v=onepage&q="any place to sit in"&f=false

 

[Tarheel]

6. I can't find a chair to sit on.

I would say: "I can't find a chair."

 

[5jj]

So, there was no need of allowing 'them to continue 'because they were not going lo find any place to sit in.

No speaker of BrE would say that.

 

[emsr2d2]

Out of curiosity, why are you using an excerpt from the Kenyan National Assembly Official Record (Hansard) to help with your English? The language used in such official meetings doesn't bear much relation to standard everyday English.

 

[sitifan]

1. I can't find any place to sit. (quoted from an mock exam published in Taiwan)
2. I can't find any place to sit in. (by a Taiwanese teacher)
5. I'm looking for a place to live.
6. I'm looking for a place to live in.
#5 and #6 are quoted from Practical English Usage. Michael Swan says they are both correct. Since #1 is acceptable, I wonder why #2 is not acceptable.

 

[emsr2d2]

I would say it's mainly because we don't say that we sit "in a place". We definitely live "in a place", but we sit "in a chair/on a sofa/on a bench".

"I can't find anywhere to sit" is still much more natural and means "I can't find a spare chair/spare place on a sofa etc ...".

 

[jutfrank]

When you use any place or a place to mean 'anywhere' or 'somewhere', then you don't use in or to. These phrases, as adverbials, already carry within them the sense that the prepositions give.

In the cases where prepositions are used, the phrases any place and a place are used as noun phrase complements of the preposition.