Pay The Dinner

[namsteven]

a. Which girl do you want to pay the dinner for?
b. Which woman do you want to repay the money for?
- Are these sentences grammatical?

Thanks so much!

Namsteven

[Anglika]

a. Which girl do you want to pay the dinner for?
b. Which woman do you want to repay the money for? to
- Are these sentences grammatical?

Thanks so much!

Namsteven

Otherwise ok.

[risby]

Otherwise ok.

What???

a. Which girl do you want to pay the dinner for?

This makes no sense at all. Perhaps

"For which girl do you want to pay for dinner?"

is what is meant but "pay the dinner" is meaningless.

b. Which woman do you want to repay the money for? to

Oh, I get it. You're having a laugh. A bit irresponsible for a moderator, I think.

[Anglika]

What???

a. Which girl do you want to pay the dinner for?

This makes no sense at all. Perhaps

"For which girl do you want to pay for dinner?"

is what is meant but "pay the dinner" is meaningless.

b. Which woman do you want to repay the money for? to

Oh, I get it. You're having a laugh. A bit irresponsible for a moderator, I think.

Your change has altered the context completely. Now the questioner is concerned about which of several girls in a restaurant he is to pay for having had dinner?

Previously it was only a question about who he is to pay.

And what, pray, is wrong with "...repay the money to"?

If you have personal comments, keep them to private messages.

[risby]

Your change has altered the context completely. Now the questioner is concerned about which of several girls in a restaurant he is to pay for having had dinner?

I see. Well I was struggling to make sense of an odd sequence of words.

Previously it was only a question about who he is to pay.

but for what was he going to pay? The original sentence does not say he was going to pay for the dinner or that he was going to pay the girl.

I'd suggest the sentence should have the clause "pay for the dinner" or "pay for dinner" in it somewhere. Furthermore, although prepositions are used post-positionally in English, this is surely a good example of when the "for" left dangling at the end of the original sentence should be moved elsewhere otherwise you are left with "pay for dinner for".

And what, pray, is wrong with "...repay the money to"?

Excuse me ... I was just thinking it would be better to help learners by using the simpler word order "To which woman do you want to repay the money?" but who am I to say.