He is a nice man for/with whom to work.

[sitifan]

He is a nice man to work for/with.
= He is a nice man for/with whom to work.
(my bold, quoted from Ivy League English Grammar, by Peter Lai)
Is the above equation acceptable to native speakers?

 

[jutfrank]

No, it isn't natural English.

 

[Phaedrus]

He is a nice man to work for/with.
= He is a nice man for/with whom to work.
(my bold, quoted from Ivy League English Grammar, by Peter Lai)
Is the above equation acceptable to native speakers?

That isn't what the sentence "He is a nice man to work for/with" means.

It means: "To work for/with him is nice"; "It is nice to work for/with him."

 

[probus]

This is one of those exceedingly rare occasions when I find myself disagreeing with @jutfrank. Noting first that "work with" differs in meaning from "work for", I find the same equivalence that Peter Lai did.

 

[sitifan]

https://www.usingenglish.com/forum/threads/i-need-a-knife-to-cut-my-steak-with.292894/
I need a knife to cut my steak with. = I need a knife with which to cut my steak. (correct)
I need a nice man to work for/with. = I need a nice man for/with whom to work. = I need a nice man I can work for/with. (correct)
He is a nice man to work for/with. = He is a nice man for/with whom to work. = He is a nice man people (?) can work for/with. (questionable)

 

[emsr2d2]

I don't find the last one questionable at all. If it's just an exercise in changing "to work for/with" into "for/with whom to work", it's fine.

 

[sitifan]

I need a nice man for/with whom to work. = I need a nice man I can work for/with.
He is a nice man for/with whom to work. = He is a nice man he*/people? can work for/with.

 

[probus]

People, not he, in the last one.

 

[Phaedrus]

I need a nice man for/with whom to work. = I need a nice man I can work for/with.
He is a nice man for/with whom to work. = He is a nice man he*/people? can work for/with.

"Nice" properly applies here to the experience of working for or with the man, not to the man himself. "Pleasant" could be substituted for "nice."

The above paraphrases of He is a nice man to work for and I need a nice man to work for seem entirely unsuccessful to me. I recommend:

He is a man for/with whom it is nice to work.
I need a man for/with whom it is nice to work.

Notice that adjectives that obviously modify man, rather than qualifying the experience of working for/with him, do not work in either construction:

?* He is a tall man to work for. / *He is a man for whom it is tall to work.
?* He is a Japanese man to work for. / *He is a man for whom it is Japanese to work.

But when we change to another adjective that qualifies the experience of working for/with him, the construction goes back to being fine:

He is a frustrating man to work for. / He is a man for whom it is frustrating to work.
He is a challenging man to work with. / He is a man with whom it is challenging to work.