Which question is better?

ROBINDESBOIS

October 17, 2012 05:46 AM

Which question is better?

How far is the beach?
How far is it to the beach?
What' s the distance to the beach?

chileno

October 17, 2012 05:55 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ROBINDESBOIS (Post 129378)

How far is the beach?
How far is it to the beach?
What' s the distance to the beach?

Qué tan lejos está la playa?

Qué tan lejos (es) para la playa?

Cuál es la distancia a/para la playa?

ROBINDESBOIS

October 17, 2012 06:05 AM

My question was which one is better in English?

wrholt

October 17, 2012 10:52 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ROBINDESBOIS (Post 129378)

How far is the beach? = How far away is the beach?
How far is the beach from [point of origin]? = How far away is the beach from [point of origin]?
How far from [point of origin] is the beach? = How far away from [point of origin] is the beach?

How far is it to the beach?
How far is it from [point of origin] to the beach?
How far is it to the beach from [point of origin]?

What' s the distance to the beach?
What' s the distance from [point of origin] to the beach?
What' s the distance to the beach from [point of origin]?

These are all normal.

Leaving out from [point of origin] is normal if it is obvious in context.

In the first group, if you don't say from [point of origin] then including away is more natural, especially if you mean to imply from here.

The third group is, perhaps, somewhat more formal-sounding than the others.

chileno

October 18, 2012 06:57 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ROBINDESBOIS (Post 129381)

My question was which one is better in English?

OK, then let me ask you. Which one is better in Spanish? :rolleyes:

Awaken

October 18, 2012 08:15 AM

How far is the beach? - This works in the correct context, but in general could be interpreted different ways.

How far is it to the beach? - This one is fine.
What' s the distance to the beach? - This works, but sounds very formal.

My preferred version: "How far away is the beach?"

Elaina

October 19, 2012 07:29 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ROBINDESBOIS (Post 129378)

How far is the beach?
How far is it to the beach?
What' s the distance to the beach?

I like the 1st one but the 2nd one is also good.

:cool:

Awaken

October 19, 2012 09:02 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Elaina (Post 129440)

I like the 1st one but the 2nd one is also good.

:cool:

Unless we're standing on the beach. Then the question has a much different meaning =)

But I agree, "How far is the beach?" means "How far away is the beach?" 99.99% of the time, so it is the most common used.

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