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  1. a. He is the specialist in chemistry at the podium.
    b. He is the specialist at the podium in chemistry.
  2. a. He is a contender with a shoulder injury for the Best Chef title.
    b. He is a contender for the best chef title with a shoulder injury.
  3. a. Which part of a title is he a contender for?
    b. Which part of his body is he a contender with?

Although 2. and 3. are both awkward sentences, what are the correct sentences grammatically or syntactically?

I am attending a syntax class. My professor gave me this question. I am considering this question for two days. Please, let me know.

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You want to put the prepositional phrase that modifies the noun immediately after the noun.

I think you didn't copy these sentences perfectly, because they all seem to have grammar issues. (In the future, if you want a faster response, please take care to make sure the sentences are copied correctly.) I've fixed these issues in the examples below:

That's the specialist in chemistry at the podium. [CORRECT]

That's the specialist at the podium in chemistry. [INCORRECT]

In chemistry describes specialist.

He is a contender with a shoulder injury for the Best Chef title. [INCORRECT]

He is a contender for the Best Chef title with a shoulder injury. [CORRECT]

For the Best Chef title describes contender.

Question 3a and 3b hardly make any sense. They just seem to be follow-up questions to question 2. I've tried to fix them up:

Which title is he a contender for? [CORRECT]

Which part of his body is he contending with? [INCORRECT]

Technically, you can contend with a shoulder injury. But it's obvious here that the contender is contending for a title.

Note, you shouldn't end a sentence with prepositions. These sentences have numerous errors and make it very hard to comprehend.

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  • Thank you. I really appreciate it!! Yes, actually I changed sentences. I'm sorry for confusing you. I can't thank you enough.
    – Cheov Finn
    Commented Oct 21, 2017 at 11:33

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