I made up sentences: "Jack feeds his chickens corn." "Jack brings his wife flowers." I wonder if the following questions are grammatically correct: 1) "Who does Jack feed corn?" 2) "Who does Jack feed corn to?" 3) "What does Jack feed to his chickens?" 4) "What does Jack bring his wife?" 5) "Who does Jack bring flowers?" As far as I know, the following questions are correct: "What does Jack feed his chickens?" "What does Jack bring to his wife?" "Who does Jack bring flowers to?"
Asked
Active
Viewed 23 times
0
-
I think all you're actually asking about here is whether or not to include the preposition *to. In principle, it's even "optional" in Jack feeds to his chickens corn, but actually no-one would ever say that. On the other hand, the preposition is required* in monotransitive Jack feeds corn to* his chickens* (where He feeds them corn** is "bitransitive" because it specifies both direct *and* indirect object without including prepositions). Whatever - *to* is optional in all your "question" examples. – FumbleFingers Jun 12 '20 at 13:01
-
1Yes, it does. Thank you all very much! – Vova Jun 12 '20 at 14:23
1 Answers
-1
Sentences 1 and 5 are technically correct, but are not in current usage (at least in my part of the world). The others look right.
If your sentences (which are quite correct) were written as "Jack feeds corn to his chickens" and "Jack brings flowers to his wife" it might make it a little easier to see the relations between your statements and questions.
Peter
- 6,637
- 2
- 10
- 20
-
-
I am aware of them, but I do not recall ever hearing them. I will improve my answer to reflect that they are correct but uncommon. – Peter Jun 12 '20 at 13:14