[Grammar] Questions with phrasal verbs

[hela]

Dear teachers,

Could you please tell me when I can use the particle before the WH-word in questions with phrasal verbs?
Is the inversion "particle/wh-word" possible only when the particle is a prepostion and not an adverb?

Examples:

Who does this book belong to? To whom / [STRIKE]To who[/STRIKE] does this book belong?
Whom did she look after? After whom / [STRIKE]After who[/STRIKE] did she look? (correct?)
What are you looking for? For what are you looking? (correct?)
What country do you come from? From what country do you come?
Which university did you go to? To which university did you go?

What did she try on? [STRIKE]On what[/STRIKE] did she try?
What did the police knock down? [STRIKE]Down what [/STRIKE]did the police knock?
Whom did she ring up all morning? [STRIKE]Up whom[/STRIKE] did she ring all morning?
Which word did you look up? [STRIKE]Up which[/STRIKE] word did you look?

Thank you for your help.

 

[Tarheel]

Are you looking for a rule? (You can do it when it makes sense to do it.)

 

[MikeNewYork]

In your first set, all but 2 work. The second does not work for me.

 

[Tarheel]

If you just want to know which sentences to use, that's easy.

Examples:

Who does this book belong to? :tick:To whom / [STRIKE]To who[/STRIKE] does this book belong?
Whom did she look after? After whom / [STRIKE]After who[/STRIKE] did she look? (correct?)
What are you looking for? For what are you looking? (correct?)
What country do you come from? From what country do you come?
Which university did you go to? To which university did you go?

What did she try on? [STRIKE]On what[/STRIKE] did she try?
What did the police knock down? [STRIKE]Down what [/STRIKE]did the police knock?
Whom did she ring up all morning? [STRIKE]Up whom[/STRIKE] did she ring all morning?
Which word did you look up? [STRIKE]Up which[/STRIKE] word did you look?

Thank you for your help.

Got to go! (I'll finish later.)

 

[hela]

Hello everyone,

Indeed, Tarheel. I'm looking for a rule.
So do you all think that all the sentences are correct except n°2 ? How come since they are all prepositional verbs?

1) To whom does this book belong?
2) After whom did she look?
3) For what are you looking?
4) Fromwhat / which country do you come?
5) To which university did you go?

Thanks again

 

[Tarheel]

Hello everyone,

Indeed, Tarheel. I'm looking for a rule.
So do you all think that all the sentences are correct except n°2 ? How come since they are all prepositional verbs?

1) To whom does this book belong?
2) After whom did she look?
3) For what are you looking?
4) Fromwhat / which country do you come?
5) To which university did you go?

None of those are natural sentences.

For (1) say:

Who does this book belong to?
​

For (2) say:

Who was she looking for?
​

I am not sure what you are trying to say there, so I am not sure if that is right. :-?

For (3) say:

What are you looking for?
​

For (4) say:

What country do you come from?
​

For (5) say:

What university did you go to?
​

(When you discover a rule then maybe you can tell me what it is.)

 

[MikeNewYork]

I think #2 was asking about whom someone was looking after, such as a child.

 

[Tarheel]

I think #2 was asking about whom someone was looking after, such as a child.

That seems like a good guess to me. Perhaps:

Who was she taking care of?
​

 

[hela]

Hello,

Tarheel, for sentence #3 your first guess was right.

So whether it is formal or informal English the preposition should always come last in questions?

All the best

 

[Tdol]

To be honest, and I'm a middle-aged BrE speaker, the for what are you looking form, while grammatically correct, sounds very unnatural to me in formal or informal usage.

 

[Tarheel]

Hello,

Tarheel, for sentence #3 your first guess was right.

So whether it is formal or informal English the preposition should always come last in questions?

All the best

No, I would not call "for" a preposition in that sentence. Instead, it is part of the phrasal verb "looking for". Example:

Eva: I am looking for something.
Matt: What are you looking for?
Eva: I am looking for a twenty-dollar bill.
Matt: I'll help you look for it.
​

The phrasal verb "look for" can be in the sentence together or separately.

 

[hela]

I am told that in phrasal verbs the particle can be a preposition or an adverb. It is a preposition when we cannot insert the object between the verb and a particle, which is the case with the verb "look for".
Do you agree?

 

[Charlie Bernstein]

You're welcome!

In American English, most people avoid the word "whom" because it sounds very formal to our ears. So you'll find that many Americans use "who" in informal conversation and look for other ways to phrase things in formal speech and writing.