Questions ending with a preposition
Who are you waiting for? What's it like? What's this for? Why the preposition goes at the end of an English question.
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Many English verbs and adjectives go with a fixed preposition: wait for, listen to, look at, worry about, interested in. When we ask a question about the person or thing after that preposition, the question word goes to the front and the preposition stays at the end: Who are you waiting for? This is normal, correct English in speech and in most writing.
The preposition stays with its verb
Statement | Question |
|---|---|
I'm waiting for my sister. | Who are you waiting for? |
She's talking about her job. | What is she talking about? |
This key belongs to Tom. | Who does this key belong to? |
I'm looking at the map. | What are you looking at? |
- Who did you go on holiday with?
- What are you so worried about?
- Which job did she apply for?
- Incorrect: Who are you waiting?
- Correct: Who are you waiting for?Wait needs for before the person, so for stays at the end of the question.
- Incorrect: Who does this umbrella belong?
- Correct: Who does this umbrella belong to?The verb is belong to, so the question keeps to.
Verbs that keep their preposition
These common verbs need their preposition in a question too: listen to, look at, look for, wait for, talk to, talk about, think about, worry about, pay for, belong to, depend on, come from, apply for, laugh at.
- What are you listening to?
- What does the price depend on?
- What are you laughing at?
- Incorrect: What does it depend?
- Correct: What does it depend on?Depend always needs on, even in a question.
Where are you from?
You met this question at A1. From goes at the end, not at the start.
- Where are you from?
- Where does this cheese come from?
- Incorrect: From where are you?
- Correct: Where are you from?In everyday questions, from goes at the end.
What is it like?
What ... like? asks for a description: what kind of person, place or thing it is. Like is a preposition here, so it goes at the end.
- What's your new flat like? It's small but very bright.
- What was the weather like in Scotland?
- What are your neighbours like?
- Incorrect: How is your new boss like?
- Correct: What is your new boss like?For a description, the question is what ... like, not how ... like.
How without like asks about health, feelings or how something is going: How's your mother? How was the exam?
What for? Who with?
What ... for? asks about a purpose, much like why. In conversation, a short question of two words is common.
- What do you need all this money for?
- What's this button for?
- "I'm going out tonight." "Who with?"
- "I'm going to the bank." "What for?"
Formal English: whom and which
In formal writing, the preposition can go before whom or which: To whom should I send the form? In everyday English, the end position with who is normal: Who should I send the form to? With who and what, keep the preposition at the end of a full question.
The same in other sentences
The preposition also stays at the end in indirect questions and in everyday relative clauses.
- Do you know who she's talking to?
- That's the flat I grew up in.
- Is this the book you were looking for?
Practise this rule
Related rules
- Question wordsRuleA1Beginner
- Subject and object questionsRuleA2Elementary
- Indirect questionsRuleB1Intermediate
- Verbs and adjectives with prepositionsRuleB1Intermediate
- Defining relative clausesRuleB1Intermediate
- Dependent prepositionsRuleB1Intermediate
- Relative clauses with prepositionsRuleB2Upper-intermediate
Where this rule sits
All B1 rulesQuestions and word order: all rules