Subject + location + verb

[freefall]

I once encountered the sentence: 父亲哪里去了 in some literature and have since noticed people using the structure in colloqial dialogue: "so-and-so 哪里去了?" I have never seen any other examples of this structure. According to my previous expectations, it is incorrect grammar and should incorporate a coverbial 到 (父亲到哪里去了) or have the 哪里 positioned AFTER the verb as it's object: 父亲去哪里了？ However, experience seems to show that this is indeed correct grammar.

Has anyone else seen examples of this structure with verbs other than 去？Does anyone understand this structure?

Freefall

[rootfool]

According to my previous expectations, it is incorrect grammar and should incorporate a coverbial 到 (父亲到哪里去了) or have the 哪里 positioned AFTER the verb as it's object: 父亲去哪里了？ However, experience seems to show that this is indeed correct grammar.

your chinese is very good.

Yep,it's incorrect in grammer,but we always use it.And poeple all know it's meaning.

for example:

A：我没信纸了，写不了信了。

B：信纸我抽屉里有，先借你用着。

A：怎么没见你的自行车？

B：自行车楼后停着呢。

[HashiriKata]

Freefall, what you've learned is correct but what you've encountered in real life is also correct. Just bear in mind that what is written for the purpose of teaching and what actually happens in real life don't always co-incide, because each variety has its own kinds of pressure. This understanding will enable you to move more smoothly and more readily between what you should learn in the abstract and what it can become in context.

[HashiriKata]

Does anyone understand this structure?

a父亲--------b哪里-----------c去了

a信纸------ b我抽屉里------c有，先借你用着。

a自行车-----b楼后------------c停着呢。

The sentences cited above follow the kind of structure below, which is what I'd call discourse sentence structure, so it's not the same as grammar sentence structure:

First, you cite the topic-a to make sure the hearer knows what you are about; then you give the most salient information-b, what you think the hearer/speaker wants to know. The remaining-c is only supporting information, to support and facilitate the information flow. You'll find in communication, many Chinese sentences follow this a+b pattern. Chinese is more context dependent, in contrast to many Western languages, because of features like this.

[freefall]

Thanks guys; this is very helpful.

I'm going to take rootfool's second sentence because it is in the same form as my original 父亲哪里去了.

自行车 || 楼后 || 停着呢.

Is it possible to omit 自行车 (understood in context)?

楼后停着呢.

or in similar fashion:

这里挂着.

这里写着.

哪里去了？

欧洲去了！to mean "he/she/it went to Europe"

Can I get a confirmation of which of the above sentences is correct? (or all, or none?)

By the way, rootfool, is your name in any way related to 傻根 from 天下无贼？

[rootfool]

Can I get a confirmation of which of the above sentences is correct? (or all, or none?)

All of them are correct in real life.

This forms,I think,it's just a character disorder ,not the form as you say:sub+loc+verb.

for example.

我买了本书，鲁迅的。

早点儿回来啊你。

下午要开个会，三点。

By the way, rootfool, is your name in any way related to 傻根 from 天下无贼？

hmm,many people asked me the similar question if they had seen that movie.Acutually I used this nickname for several years."根本傻" is its chinese translation.