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The Finance major is for those students with career objectives in the financial management of business firms.

I'm trying to turn this into a question; is this form correct?

What students is the finance major for?

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    I would use "which" instead of "what", but otherwise, it looks fine. You could also put "for" first instead of last... "For which students...".
    – Catija
    Jul 21, 2015 at 19:35

4 Answers 4

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Which students should major in finance?

"Major" can and should be used as a verb in this sense. It is an English gotcha.

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I believe the form you're looking for is this:

A Finance major is for which students?

Which would fit your answer of: those with career objectives in the financial management of business firms.

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  • Thank you. But does that mean my question is phrased incorrectly?
    – Ghaith Alrestom
    Jul 21, 2015 at 19:03
  • The way that you've formed the question there is a single inconsistency: your choice of the singular form of "to be" paired with a plural form of student. If you want to preserve the order of your statement, you'll need to have them agree (either both singular as in student is or both plural as in students are). If you wish to preserve both (the plural students and singular is), you have to shift the sentence around as I did in my suggestion so the referents agree.
    – Omnidisciplinarianist
    Jul 22, 2015 at 19:00
  • Not so, dear sir. The "is" applies to "major", which is singular, no matter how many students it is for.
    – Brian Hitchcock
    Aug 10, 2015 at 7:06
  • Ghaith: your question is phrased better than Omnidisciinarian's alternative. You used inversion, while he did not. (Not that his is wrong, but neither is yours.)
    – Brian Hitchcock
    Aug 10, 2015 at 7:16
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"Who should major in finance?" This is a rhetorical question. "A rhetorical question is a figure of speech in the form of a question that is asked in order to make a point rather than to elicit an answer." Wikipedia. I wouldn't say your phrasing is wrong, but it is awkward. Ending a question with a preposition is awkward. Maybe one of the experts will tell us if your phrasing is not only awkward, but wrong.

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Yes, your question is well formed.

Some might quibble about ending with a preposition. They are beating a dead horse that is already out of the barn. (just mixing metaphors, there) I mean they would be taking up an argument that has already been settled. Or at least it is futile.

ab2 seems to be assuming you suggested "should". I don't know whether you did initially and then edited your question, but ab2's answer is irrelevant to your question as now phrased.

Evorlor chose to rewrite your question rather than sticking to the assignment of making a question matching the original statement.

To repeat: You got it right. These other folks, though having the best of intentions, are leading you away from the truth.

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