Can we separate the words "belong" and "to" in a question like this?
To what language family does English belong?
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1yes, what makes you think you wouldn't be able to?– EstherCommented May 30, 2022 at 17:54
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I have googled it and I can only find it in very few examples. Would you say it is an old fashioned way of asking a question? Thanks for your answer by the way :-)– Peter ArvidssonCommented May 30, 2022 at 18:05
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I wouldn't say it's old-fashioned, maybe slightly more formal.– EstherCommented May 30, 2022 at 18:14
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1Collins, while reinterpreting [belong] [to N] as verb + PP, does include the non-controversial examples: The object forms of the interrogative pronoun are used after a preposition. In informal and everyday usage, you can place the preposition at the end of the clause. • Who does this belong to? Informal // • To whom does this belong? [very] Formal'– Edwin AshworthCommented May 30, 2022 at 18:53
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If you want a very simple way of thinking about this -- in the old days, it was considered bad style to end a sentence or question with a preposition, and so one had to move the "to" in your example to another place. But nowadays it's rare to come across an objection to ending with a preposition ("What language family does English belong to?" ). However, one may still move the preposition if one wishes to do so!– aparente001Commented May 30, 2022 at 21:48
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1 Answer
Yes, you can (but see the bottom of the answer for why it doesn't matter). The process is called Pied-piping in English syntax. It happens in wh-clauses, like questions or relative clauses, where a wh-word is normally moved to the beginning
- Bill kicked the ball. ~ What did Bill kick? ~ the ball which Bill kicked
Normally the wh-word is the subject or the object of the clause;
but in some cases it's the object of a preposition, like
- He came from that city. (prepositional phrase in original form)
- Which city did he come from? (stranded preposition = phrase separated)
- From which city did he come? (pied-piped preposition = phrase united)
In the two questions above (let's ignore relative clauses; pied-piping works the same there) there's a conflict. The original statement that the questions came from has a prepositional phrase that can get split apart by wh-movement, leaving a stranded preposition at the end; or that phrase can get moved as a unit, with the wh-word already installed, by pied-piping.
However, that construction does require that the structure be analyzed by both the speaker and the addressee beyond the major constituents, which is work, and takes training, of the sort that you get in good schools, and that bespeaks education and signals status, which is why it's considered "formal".
As far as the original question is concerned, belong to is not a phrasal verb, any more than come from is. It's just a preposition that's required by the verb to complete its usage here. But separating the preposition from the verb is not the issue. It's separating the preposition from its object; or not. The verb is just doing its thing.
answered May 30, 2022 at 18:59
