Friday, June 26, 2015

prepositions - Question concerning a prepositional phrase


In the prepositional phrase : "Who did you give your number to?" Is the TO at the end of the sentence absolutely necessary?



Answer



The verb give participates in something called the Dative Alternation:



I gave the book to him.

I gave him the book.



Both of these sentences can be used with the same meaning. Levin gives the following examples of verbs that participate in the Dative Alternation:



  • give-type verbs: give, hand, lend, loan, rent, sell, . . . 

  • send-type verbs: send, mail, ship, . . . 

  • throw-type verbs: fling, flip, kick, lob, slap, shoot, throw, toss, . . .


But the example I've given above is very simple. If we make things more cognitively complex by making the example interrogative, then we find a strong preference for the version that is explicitly marked by a preposition. Why?


In Cognitive complexity and increased grammatical explicitness in English, Günter Rohdenburg outlines his Complexity Principle, "explicitly marked phrases are preferred over zero-marked counterparts in cognitively complex environments". Following this principle, it seems many speakers have a strong preference for including to in the interrogative version:




Who did John give the book?
Who did John give the book to?



I personally find both versions grammatical, but I think you'll find that people usually choose to include this preposition in real life examples.


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