I've always wondered why some people add a to after Why when framing a question. I have always wished to know this, but I keep forgetting to ask and today I came across a tweet that made me post this question here. The sentence that I came across on my twitter feed is:
Why To Treat Your Product Like It's Finished?
Isn't it more appropriate to ask:
Why Treat Your Product Like It's Finished?
I know that all the words in the sentence above have a capital letter in front because this was a title of a post. But that is not the point.
My question is: When do we need to use a preposition like to after a question word like Why? Are there any grammatical rules regarding this usage? If so, what are they?
Why To Treat Your Product Like It's Finished (Even Before It Is) http://t.co/eLiY1VBYDT
— Buffer (@buffer) June 4, 2014Answer
Both of these constructions can be considered to be elliptical forms:
Why To Treat Your Product Like It's Finished.
[The reason/s] why [you should choose] to treat your product like /
[as if] it's finished.
(Note that the question mark would be non-standard for a non-direct question, as in this sentence fragment. Of course, you can justify the use of one by positing a missing [What are ...])
Why Treat Your Product Like It's Finished?
[What is the reason / are the reasons] why [you should] treat your
product like it was / [as if it were] finished?
Elliptical forms often occur in a choice of flavours (and clarity).
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