Given the traditional stylistic convention of not ending a sentence with a preposition, can you find a correct simplification of this Winston Churchill sort of statement:
"I have many friends, some of whom with which I occasionally have sex."
Doesn't read as grammatical to me now, as is.
"I have many friends, with some of whom I occasionally have sex."
does.
Are both of the prepositional phrases necessary?
Yeah, unless you change the structure completely.
Is the following sentence correct, and why?
"I have many friends, some with whom I occasionally have sex."
No, the "whom" is adrift there. If you put it in prep. last form (which I find acceptable), you get.
"I have many friends, some whom I occasionally have sex with."
You need the "of", either way.
How about this variant?
"I have many friends, some of whom I ocasionally fuck."
Sure! Keep to those good old Anglo-Saxon monosyllables!
If I turn it inside out, is there a solution?
"Of my many friends, some I occasionally have sex with."
'Sokay. Not the best version, IMO. A bit awkward.
How about, "I have many friends, and I occasionally fuck/have sex with some of them"? You don't actually *need* a relative clause, do you?
can you find a correct simplification of this...statement:
"I have many friends, some of whom with which I occasionally have sex."
Yes. Read on...
Are both of the prepositional phrases necessary?
Your sentence
Both operations on the domain must be preserved in order for the meaning of the sentence to be preserved. One might search for some way to express one, the other, or both of these operations by some means other than a preposition.
And so:
I have many friends; I'll occasionally have sex with some of them.
I have many friends, some of whom I have sex with, occasionally.
Some of my many friends and I occasionally have sex.
I have sex occasionally with some of my many friends.
I have occasional sex with some of my many friends.
I occasionally have sex with some of my many friends.
I occasionally screw some of my many friends.
There are some of my many friends with whom I will have sex.
Is the following sentence correct, and why?
"I have many friends, some with whom I occasionally have sex."
I really really really want to say, nay, scream, "No! The sentence is not correct!!!". Alas, I must conclude that it does in fact just squeak over the minimal threshold for technical correctness. That doesn't make it any less a stylistic atrocity, though. This is the sort of thing that gives grammar weanies nightmares.
"I have many friends, some of whom I ocasionally fuck."
That's my first choice, if you insist on following the silly Latinate rule.
Alternately, I would go with
"I have many friends, with some of whom I occasionally have sex."
Nevertheless, I would stick to
"I have many friends, some of whom I occasionally have sex with."
Remember Orwell's comment, after listing a bunch of stylistic rules, "Break any of these rules sooner than say anything outright barbarous." Also realize that some of our grammar rules came from Latin, and don't belong in the English language at all. Included in this category are "Never end a sentence with a preposition" and "Never split an infinitive."
try:
"I have many friends, with some of whom I occasionally have sex."
the sentence using "fuck" works too, but doesn't convey the same meaning; having sex with them might mean they were fucking you.
You want to screw a jelly donut (ein berliner?) or Winston Churchel? or Howard Cosel? I'm not sure ... 8-)
the intersection of the set of my friends and the set of people with whom i have sex is not empty...
Um, xxxx, you consider that a stylistic improvement? In what context?
"I have many friends, some of whom with which I occasionally have sex."
the preposition goes at the beginning of the clause: "I have many friends, with some of whom I occasionally have sex."
"I have many friends, some of whom I ocasionally fuck."
this works, too.
"Of my many friends, some I occasionally have sex with."
same trouble with the preposition.
speak for yerself,
"I have many friends, some of whom with which I occasionally have sex."
Incorrect. The correct phrasing would be:
"I have many friends, with some of whom I occasionally have sex."
Are both of the prepositional phrases necessary?
Yes.
"I have many friends, some with whom I occasionally have sex."
This is semantically equivalent to the previous sentence, but parses slightly differently: "I have many friends, [and] some with whom I occasionally have sex." This is a faulty parallel, and therefore incorrect.
"I have many friends, some of whom I ocasionally fuck."
Syntactically and stylistically correct, but (to me at least) semantically rather different from your original sentence: connotation("fuck") != connotation("have sex with").
"Of my many friends, some I occasionally have sex with."
Incorrect. The correct phrasing is:
"Of my many friends, I occasionally have sex with some."
This is a somewhat pompous style, however.
I feel the best phrasing would be
"I occasionally have sex with some of my many friends."
BONUS QUESTION: What is wrong with Winston Churchill's famous utterance, "That is a restriction up with which I will not put"? What would the correct phrasing be? Why would it be correct?
"I have many friends, some of whom with which I occasionally have sex."
How's about "I have many friends, and I have sex with some of them."
Sheesh.
And to xxxxx's notes about Grammar being a priesthood construct, of no use to us: I disagree. Like any formalized set of rules for behavior, it provides guidelines to prevent ambiguity and accidents, and provides a framework for interpreting stranger's actions that they also follow.
John Rehwinkel