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I texted my mother and told her that I was eating in a restaurant.

My mother asked:

What restaurant are you in?

Or

In what restaurant are you?

(I'm inside the restaurant and I'm eating something.)

Are these sentences correct in informal English?

If it's not , what would a native speaker suggest?

Thank you.

keramus
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  • To me, "What restaurant are you in?" sound more natural (though this particular scenario always begs for a better solution -- which only appears achievable with more verbosity). – Hot Licks Oct 24 '15 at 09:23

1 Answers1

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Grammatically correct response would be:

"In what restaurant are you eating?"

But a more natural sounding choice of words would be:

"In which restaurant are you eating?" (or 'sitting' or 'waiting')

or (more informally)

"Which restaurant?"

and even more informally

"Where?" or "Where is this restaurant?"

The first version your mother asked is incorrect because for some ridiculous reason, the rules of English state that it is not acceptable to end (have as the last word) any sentence with a preposition (sometimes called an auxiliary verb, and sometimes called a helping verb) and the word 'in' is a preposition.

Other prepositions are:

with

of

from

to

as

I think there are a couple more that I can't recall at the moment.

Though, keep in mind, that many native English-speaking people get this wrong all the time and it is a commonly and easily forgiven technical error of minor importance (in my opinion).

A Writer's Reference - Fourth Edition states:

A prepositional phrase begins with a preposition such as at, by, for, from, in, of, on, to, or with and ends with a noun or a noun equivalent called its object.

Sk Johnson
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  • I'm not clear why you say the first is the grammatically correct response. In which restaurant are you eating sounds perfectly grammatical to me, and is less stridently inquisitive. – WS2 Oct 24 '15 at 08:20
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    The difference being either the choice of what as opposed to which - 'what' is not quite appropriate because what the first speaker is in is a restaurant, as they've already stated. – Sk Johnson Oct 24 '15 at 08:28
  • Also notice the difference between the first reply the OP wrote and my corrected version of it which adds eating to the end of the sentance for reasons stated above. – Sk Johnson Oct 24 '15 at 08:32
  • Well it is only a very small difference between 'which' and 'what' in this case. Both are used equally as much. I'm just pointing out that if you really want to be as "nit-picky" (truly 'proper') as possible, then which is the appropriate word here. – Sk Johnson Oct 24 '15 at 08:45
  • Dear members , I'm a little confused . which one should I use? In which restaurant or in what restaurant? – keramus Oct 24 '15 at 08:45
  • The “rules of English” state no such thing. The only ‘rules’ there are in English are the ones native speakers follow when speaking and using the language, and ending sentences in prepositions is perfectly common, natural, grammatical, and completely allowed. In common, everyday speech, the example given here is much more likely to end in a preposition than to have a fronted prepositional phrase (which is marked as formal). Also, could you cite a source for the claim that prepositions are also called participles? I have never seen that, and it would be unbelievingly confusing terminology. – Janus Bahs Jacquet Oct 24 '15 at 08:51
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    @keramus SK Johnson already answered your question with "in which restaurant" sounds more natural. –  Oct 24 '15 at 08:53
  • In other words (for non-grammarians), both versions given in the question are equally grammatical and valid. The more formal you get (formal writing, prepared speeches, etc.), the more likely you are to use “in which”; the more informal you get (normal, everyday conversation or SMSes with your mother), the more likely you are to use “what…in”. But both can be and are used in all registers by native speakers, and both are completely grammatical. – Janus Bahs Jacquet Oct 24 '15 at 08:53
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    @JanusBahsJacquet It may be worth pointing out, as it is not clear from your comment, that you can have a personal rule of avoiding sentences which end with prepositions, if you want. And you will not be hauled up in front of the magistrates for so doing. – WS2 Oct 24 '15 at 09:01
  • @ Janus Bahs Jacquet My mistake on 'participle' being the same as preposition, I've corrected that statement, though it is hardly relevant since "preposition" is just as obsolete in modern classrooms. – Sk Johnson Oct 24 '15 at 09:02
  • @Sk Well, that certainly depends on whom you ask. If you ask Geoffrey Pullum, far from being obsolete, prepositions are the word class these days. – Janus Bahs Jacquet Oct 24 '15 at 09:04
  • Current textbooks don't even acknowledge, let alone define, the word 'preposition' Also, there most certainly IS such a rule. According to the only universally source accepted by colleges and University Professors A Writer's Reference - by Diana Hacker word for word it states: – Sk Johnson Oct 24 '15 at 09:29
  • "A prepositional phrase begins with a preposition such as at, by, for, from, in, of, on, to, or with and ends with a noun or a noun equivalent called its object. – Sk Johnson Oct 24 '15 at 09:31
  • And therefore a sentence can never end with a preposition. Just because it is common for people to speak in grammatically incorrect speech does not mean it is actually correct. The minute distinction between the two options given by the OP would suggest that they were specifically interested in knowing which version was correct, not which was common. – Sk Johnson Oct 24 '15 at 09:35
  • I meant to say 'universally accepted source' but I can't correct it now since it was a few comments ago and the 'edit' link is gone. – Sk Johnson Oct 24 '15 at 09:38