Where did you get it (from)?

[Ashraful Haque]

I remember asking this question on another site and everyone said that the 'from' isn't necessary. I was watching a video on Youtube. A native American speaker asked a woman "Where'd you get the mask from?"

I feel like saying 'where did you get it' in general is okay. But when you're asking about stores, the 'from' is necessary. Please correct me if I'm mistaken.

 

[emsr2d2]

I remember asking this question on another site and everyone said that the 'from' isn't necessary. However, I was watching a video on Youtube no full stop here and a native American speaker asked a woman "Where'd you get the mask from?"

I feel like saying 'Where did you get it?' in general is okay no full stop here but when you're asking about stores, the 'from' is necessary. Please correct me if I'm mistaken.

It isn't necessary. It's optional.

 

[SoothingDave]

Like "Where are you going to?" the final preposition is common (at least in my dialect), but logically optional.

 

[Skrej]

I remember asking this question on another site and everyone said that the 'from' isn't necessary. I was watching a video on Youtube. A native American speaker asked a woman "Where'd you get the mask from?"

I feel like saying 'where did you get it' in general is okay. But when you're asking about stores, the 'from' is necessary. Please correct me if I'm mistaken.

Some grammarians used to (and perhaps still do) insist that you should never end a sentence with a preposition. Therefore, ending in 'from' was not only unnecessary, but in their view wrong. That however didn't stop many native speakers from doing so. I agree it's often unnecessary, but not "wrong" to do so. Sometimes I add the 'from', and sometimes I don't.

However, I also wouldn't say it's "necessary" even if asking about stores.

Like "Where are you going to?" the final preposition is common (at least in my dialect), but logically optional.

I don't think I personally add 'to', but I also don't think I'd even notice it if I heard someone do so.

 

[jutfrank]

In this context, although from is not necessary, it does do some work to mean that the speaker is asking about the place of purchase of the mask.

 

[probus]

Some grammarians used to (and perhaps still do) insist that you should never end a sentence with a preposition.

I've always loved the riposte attributed to Churchill, though it may well be apocryphal: That is the sort of pedantry up with which I will not put.

 

[tedmc]

1. I got the mask from the store.
2. Where did you get the mask from?

2 logically follows from 1 but as the language evolves, rules are relaxed and people don't bother about the dangling preposition at the end.

 

[Skrej]

I've always loved the riposte attributed to Churchill, though it may well be apocryphal: That is the sort of pedantry up with which I will not put.

Then there's always Joe Pesci's solution in that great scene from "With Honors".

 

[Tarheel]

A bunch of prescriptivists who think it's their job to make rules for everybody else. (And that's the nice way of putting it.)

 

[Phaedrus]

I remember asking this question on another site and everyone said that the 'from' isn't necessary. I was watching a video on Youtube. A native American speaker asked a woman "Where'd you get the mask from?"

The optionality of the preposition can easily be seen by formulating answers to the respective questions using "there":

"Where did you get the mask?" <--> "I got the mask there."
"Where did you get the mask?" <--> "I got the mask from there."

Note that many speakers consider the question "Where are you at?" to be poor English. We can say "You are there" but not *"You are at there."

 

[Ashraful Haque]

Thank you for all the helpful answers. I guess I'll just drop the 'from' from now on.