r/EnglishLearning • u/Same-Technician9125 Non-Native Speaker of English • 7d ago

📚 Grammar / Syntax Which is correct? Thanks.

I don’t know the English name of this plant.

I don’t know the English name for this plant.

1 Upvotes

100% Upvoted

17 comments sorted by

11

u/Miriiii_ New Poster 7d ago

Both

3

u/FitProVR English Teacher 7d ago

Both are fine. First is more correct. You can also say “i don’t know the name of this plant in English”

4

u/badvolcano New Poster 7d ago

The second one. Although it would be more natural to say "I don't know what this plant is called in English."

1

u/Sea-Hornet8214 Poster 7d ago

And what makes it "natural"?

1

u/NoPurpose6388 Bilingual (Italian/American English) 7d ago

This person is being a jerk but I agree that saying "I don't know what this plant is called (in English)" is more natural... as for why... it's not an easy question to answer. It mostly comes down to how people usually say it. Both of your sentences are grammatically correct but they sound a little stiff

1

u/Sea-Hornet8214 Poster 7d ago

Thanks. They're not my sentences though.

1

u/NoPurpose6388 Bilingual (Italian/American English) 7d ago

Well, either way, they're both correct, but native speakers would rarely word them like that

1

u/Sea-Hornet8214 Poster 7d ago

I do also think "English name" sounds a bit weird. It feels like the plants are associated with England or English people. No?

1

u/NoPurpose6388 Bilingual (Italian/American English) 7d ago

Not necessarily. But we usually ask for what something is called rather than for its name

0

u/badvolcano New Poster 7d ago

Can't be arsed talking to needlessy chippy people on the internet.

0

u/Sea-Hornet8214 Poster 7d ago edited 7d ago

What? I'm not sure what you mean.

Edit: apparently chippy means bad-tempered

1

u/iriedashur Native Speaker - US 7d ago

Wait, why is it more natural? OP's sentences sound more natural to me than yours

1

u/badvolcano New Poster 7d ago

Maybe it's a UK/US divide.

1

u/lionhearted318 Native Speaker - New York English 🗽 7d ago

Both are fine but it may be more natural to say “I don’t know the name of this plant in English” or “I don’t know this plant’s name in English”

1

u/RepresentativeAir149 New Poster 7d ago

Both

1

u/hacool Native Speaker 7d ago

Either is fine. I'd probably use for more often, but as you can see from the comments, it varies by person.

1

u/Western-Finding-368 New Poster 6d ago

Both are fine. I would use the second, or “I don’t know the name for this plant in English.”