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I thought it was not possible to say something like the below.

It was in the range of from (problem number)5 to (problem number)9.

Even my native friend said it sounds horribly wrong and that I should say "the range of 5 to 9". Well, it turns out he is wrong. It is possible to say "the range of from...to". http://corpus.byu.edu/coca/

So I was wondering if it would be possible to use "from...to" in some other contexts as the prepositional complement.

So would it be grammatical to say

He was good with from (problem number) 5 to (problem number) 9 but not with from 10 to 15.

I think it kind of sounds alright, and even this nominal functions of prepositional phrases supports my claim.

But after thinking of it for too long, I'm losing it. Is it fine to say this?

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Your examples contain two prepositions in a row, which is ungrammatical. Your native-speaking friend might be referring to this issue.

It was in the range of from 5 to 9.

He was good with from 5 to 9 but not with from 10 to 15.

In the first example, you would use of instead of from. A prepositional phrase such as "in the range" requires of, not from.

In the second example, you would use from instead of with. In this case, "good" is a predicate adjective that requires from, not with.

These sentences are perfectly valid:

It was in the range of 5 to 9.

He was good from 5 to 9 but not from 10 to 15.

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  • What do you think of 9 results that come up on COCA when I type in "range of from"? Also google search yields over 30000 results: google.com/#q=%22range+of+from%22&tbm=bks&start=80
    – whitedevil
    Jul 10, 2016 at 2:16
  • @user3169 What do you think of 9 results that come up on COCA when I type in "range of from"? Also google search yields over 30000 results: google.com/#q=%22range+of+from%22&tbm=bks&start=80
    – whitedevil
    Jul 10, 2016 at 2:17
  • I think if you used "range of from 5 to 10" in a sentence, your friend would say it sounds very wrong and your English teacher would mark it incorrect.
    – Ringo
    Jul 10, 2016 at 2:26
  • -EDIT- In the form of "He was good with (that)", you could use "He was good with (from 5 to 9 but not 10 to 15)". But don't repeat the "with from" a second time.
    – user3169
    Jul 10, 2016 at 2:32
  • @whitedevil I made a mistake on my comment, so pls check it again. I was only saying leave off the second "with from" in the above "He was good with from 5 to 9 but not .... .... 10 to 15."
    – user3169
    Jul 10, 2016 at 2:36

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