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"The tree is what I am looking at." No not formal enough.

"The tree is at what I am looking." Formal but sounds misleading.

I know I can easily say it like " I am looking at the tree." But just want to find out if there is anything wrong with saying it the second way. ???

most venerable sir
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    "The tree is what I am looking at." No, not formal enough. Why not? – J.R. Jul 01 '15 at 14:18
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    The first is fine. The second is horrible. the tree is the focus of my attention. if you must. – Jim Jul 01 '15 at 14:19
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    @J.R.I assume it’s because it ends with a preposition. Sigh. – Jim Jul 01 '15 at 14:20
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    “The tree is at what I am looking” is not formal. It's gibberish. It's completely ungrammatical. Why on earth do you need a specifically formal-only way to say this (as opposed to a neutral one, one which can be used both formally and informally)? Looking at a tree is not a particularly formal thing to be doing. – Janus Bahs Jacquet Jul 01 '15 at 15:55
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    If you want something that sounds more formal than "look at," you could say The tree is what I am observing. Then you don't have to worry about the placement of prepositions. – Nicole Jul 01 '15 at 18:44

1 Answers1

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to look at
to listen to
to leave for

The above are some verbs that use a preposition. Normally, in constructions such as yours, the preposition is placed at the end, although ending a sentence with a preposition is not preferred for some (that's probably from where you got the impression "not formal").

"The tree is what I am looking at." is correct. Alternatively, "It's the tree I'm looking at." or simply, "I'm looking at the three."

"The tree is at what I am looking." or
"Jazz music is to what I'm listening." or
"London is for what I'm leaving."

These are improper constructions, when the verb takes a preposition. With no preposition, there's no such question, as in: "This is what I'm planning."

Sankarane
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