1

Can we ask some questions about adjective complements?

I was disappointed with your behaviour.(1)

Can we ask its question like

With what were you disappointed? (2)

or

What were you disappointed with? (3)


I am good at math and physics. (4)

Can we ask its question like?

At what areas are you good? (5)

or

What areas are you good at? (6)

Thanks in advance.

1 Answer 1

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In the first section (3) is idiomatic.

What were you disappointed with? (3)

In the second section

At what areas are you good? (5)

What areas are you good at? (6)

would be better as

Which subjects are you good at?

Which are your best subjects?

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  • It seems that you didn't specify your opinion about (2) , what do you think about it? In my opinion, it is very formal but grammatically correct.
    – Jawel7
    Jun 8, 2018 at 22:51
  • I implied that (2) was inferior, though correct. It is stilted. Jun 8, 2018 at 22:53
  • Do you have any reason for that?
    – Jawel7
    Jun 8, 2018 at 22:54
  • Only because I am a native speaker. (2) is used sometimes, such as in the song "There's a hole in my bucket" where a line says "With what shall I mend it, dear Liza, dear Liza". Jun 8, 2018 at 22:57
  • I see. In terms of grammaticality, there is no problem but it doesn't sound natural.
    – Jawel7
    Jun 8, 2018 at 23:03

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