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Prepositions

britdam007

britdam007

India

Whom would you prefer _ the two of us?


a) among b) of c) between d) to



Best regards,


Abhishek


07:50 AM Aug 22 2015 |

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Teacher AmySuper Member!

United States

It would be correct to say of or between if there are two people to be chosen, but between would be the most common. It would not be correct to say among unless it was a larger group of people. For example, “Whom would you prefer among the group of us?” And while using to is grammatically correct, saying, “Whom would you prefer to the two of us?” basically means “Whom do you prefer instead of the two of us?”


I hope this helps!


Best,


Amy

05:41 PM Aug 22 2015 |

britdam007

britdam007

India

My grammar book says ‘to’ is the correct answer. So you think I can take ‘to’ for an answer? I need this to confirm with you.



Best regards,


Abhishek

07:12 AM Aug 25 2015 |

Teacher AmySuper Member!

United States

It is grammatically correct, yes. It changes the meaning of the sentence from what I think its originial intent probably was, but it is correct.


Best,


Amy

05:02 AM Aug 27 2015 |

britdam007

britdam007

India

So you mean to say ‘Whom would you prefer to the two of us?’ actually does not mean ‘Whom would you prefer between the two of us?”? This is confusing me because as far as I know, only ‘to’ can be used followed by the verb ‘prefer’. For example : I prefer coffee to tea. Please advise?



Best regards,


Abhishek



Best regards,


Abhishek

01:43 PM Aug 27 2015 |

Teacher AmySuper Member!

United States

“Whom would you prefer to the two of us?” definitely does not have the same meaning as “Whom would you prefer between the two of us”? Let me try to explain.


If someone asked me “Whom would you prefer to the two of us?”, I would understand them to be asking me who I would rather do something with instead of “the two of us.” Using your coffee and tea example above, I might answer the question by saying “I prefer Charlie to the two of you.” The word “to” is being used in place of “instead of.”


However, if someone asked me “Whom would you prefer between the two of us?”, I would understand them to be asking me to choose one person or the other person. If we pretend that the “the two of us” are named Wendy and Mark, my answer would be either “I prefer Wendy” or “I prefer Mark.” The word “between” is being used to indicate that I have a choice.


Regarding your sentence above: “I prefer coffee to tea,” it is also correct to say “I prefer coffee over tea.” It doesn’t make a lot of sense when you think about the preposition “over,” but it is used this way in English all the time.


English is a confusing language with so many exceptions to the rules, isn’t it? :-)


Best,


Amy

04:38 AM Aug 30 2015 |

britdam007

britdam007

India

It is indeed! And that’s why it is very difficult to master the royal language for a non-native speaker!



Best regards,


Abhishek

07:56 AM Sep 01 2015 |