Is the following sentence grammatically correct?
Mike really wonders where you visited in England last week.
I thought about using where for an indication of what place, but I am not sure whether it is correct or not to use where in this context.
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4It's fine. The where clause is a subordinate interrogative clause (embedded question). The meaning is "Mike really wonders about the answer to the question 'Where did you visit in England last week?"' – BillJ Mar 10 '17 at 15:49
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2I think a good question remains, in that a where question, as distinct from a what question--as in What place(s)/person(s)/attraction(s)?--seems to invite an adverbial answer (such as "all over Shropshire"), thus making the verb visit function intransitively. OED lists only one intransitive sense, "To talk or chat; to exchange conversation," tagged "U.S."--and I don't think that is what is meant here. Of course one can ask somewhat elliptically "Where did you visit . . . [various places/persons/attractions]?" – Brian Donovan Mar 10 '17 at 16:21
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1I can't see any question remaining, and transitivity is not an issue. The subordinate clause "where you visited in England ...", though not directly asking a question, expresses the same question as the main clause equivalent "Where did you visit in England ...?" with the same set of possible answers. "Where" can certainly mean "what places", and is more likely than "What did you visit in England ..."? Even in "Mike really wonders what places you visited in England last week", transitivity is still not an issue since the what clause (like the where clause) is not object of "wonder". – BillJ Mar 10 '17 at 18:48
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1All that said, the idiomatic way to say this is "Mike really wonders where you went in England last week." "Where did you go in England?' But, "Did you visit Oxford and Cambridge?' "No, we visited northern England." – Xanne Mar 11 '17 at 5:58
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"where you visited" grates to my British ears - but is that usage more common in American English? – TrevorD Mar 18 '17 at 13:37
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There is no fault with using wonder + conjunction, like in
I wonder why he did that.
I wonder where he is/went.
My concern is elsewhere: what you mean with "where" is "what place" ("he" wants a name) or "which place" ("he" already knows a list of places and he wants to know the one).
I believe that:
Mike really wonders where you visited in England last week.
is not necessarily wrong, but it would perhaps leave the person wondering for a split second if they were hearing it, and frown slightly if they were reading it. The problem is that visit introduces an accusative object (one visits a place), not an adverb + location (one is in a place). That is why I would see the construction where you visited as slightly abusive.
So it would be more appropriate (as well as precise) if you said:
Mike wonders what/which place(s) you visited in England last week.
But it remains a matter of taste and usage. Perhaps there are regions where your version is perfectly idiomatic in spoken language; and no doubt eminent writers already used it?
