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I created this structure from its possible answers like:

I prefer buses to go to work. ➡ what means of transportation do you prefer to go to work ➡ What do you prefer to go to work?

But on second thought the first sentence seems wrong to me and I should change it to these:

A: What do you prefer to go by to go to work?

B: What do you prefer for going to work?

I know for sure that B is right. Even if it is correct, Can I replace for going to work with to go to work to have:

What do you prefer to go to work?

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    I think, there are two "to go"s in A. Is it a typo or?
    – Cardinal
    Feb 28, 2017 at 19:42
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    I think your final sentence, at the very least, lacks a preposition 'with'. "What do you prefer to go . . . " doesn't make sense.
    – M.A.R.
    Feb 28, 2017 at 19:46
  • Neither sentence is meaningful? You might ask: How do you prefer to go to work? but even this isn't clear. What you are trying to ask - as you indicate -is: What means of transport do you prefer to use to get to work?
    – Ronald Sole
    Feb 28, 2017 at 19:55
  • @M.A.R. It's for the time when the answer is: I prefer to go with buses.--- I mean in your sentence "go" is for the noun "buses". In my sentence go is not for the verb, but instead for "for going to"; as a result the answer be like: "I prefer buses ➡ to go to work"
    – Reza
    Feb 28, 2017 at 19:56
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    @Reza - The original sentence, "I prefer buses to go to work" sounds non-fluent to me, and I think that's part of the problem. I would have stated it as "I prefer to go to work by bus", and the corresponding question would be "How do you prefer to go to work?" since we're asking about a method of doing something.
    – stangdon
    Feb 28, 2017 at 20:19

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As a (near-)native speaker, I would say (in no specific order):

How do you get to work?

...or, if you need to indicate preference:

How do you like to get to work?

But this is a little bit more informal.

And if you really want to use "prefer," I would say:

How do you prefer to get to work?

And then, just some other options:

What do you take to get to work?

What do you like to take to get to work?

...although to "go to work" is not wrong, it just sounds "less" natural to me.

Meanwhile, I would not use "by" in any of these instances.

Adding "by" creates (a little) bit of unnecessary confusion.

While grammatically, it may be fine, it's not really necessary.

See how the last example, "What do you like to take to get to work?" is already a bit of a mouthful?

What do you think? Which do you prefer? :D.

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    What about my question? (What do you prefer to go to work?) Is this wrong? Because I taught it to my students an now I feel a little uncomfortable.
    – Reza
    Mar 1, 2017 at 10:13
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    It's not wrong, but I can say that it's probably not the way a native speaker would say it. We would be more inclined to use "how" in this case, not "what." And we would be more inclined to use "to get to work" instead of "to go to work."
    – Teacher KSHuang
    Mar 1, 2017 at 10:15
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    You mean it's grammatically correct but not common in use. Thanks 👍
    – Reza
    Mar 1, 2017 at 10:17

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