I was at school and my teacher asked us to look for something in our book. Then a lot of people started asking "Where's that at?", but I heard one person say "Where's that?", and someone immediately "corrected" him by saying "Where's that at". Was the kid's statement grammatically correct? I know "Where's it" and "Where's he" are incorrect, but what about "Where's that?". Was his apostrophed phrase correct?
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2Yessss, it's correct..– SamCommented Oct 20, 2022 at 14:48
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4I can see you are a young student so I will help you here. The "at" is wrong. Where's that? The preposition at is redundant since where already asks for a location. The person you heard was wrong. That said, people do go around putting "at" everything like that. [This question will be closed or moved to ELL].– LambieCommented Oct 20, 2022 at 15:59
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1Adding "at" is correct.– BobCommented Oct 20, 2022 at 16:05
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1@Lambie - And there's the rule of Engish construction: "Never use a preposition to end a sentence with."– Hot LicksCommented Oct 20, 2022 at 17:48
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@Hot Licks Nope. It has nothing to do with that. It has to do with meaning. If I say: Where is he? Answer: He's at school. There is no need for at in the question! That is very different from: I don't know what he sings about. That is what your truism corresponds to. [sings about, corresponds to]– LambieCommented Oct 20, 2022 at 17:58
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1 Answer
I can see you are a young student so I will help you here. The "at" is wrong.
Example: Where's that? The preposition at is redundant since where already asks for a location. The person you heard was wrong. That said, people do go around putting "at" in tons of utterances like that: Where's he at? Instead of: Where is he? He's at school right now.
It's the answer to a question with "where is x" that takes the at, not the question.
