what.......like?

[Agnieszka]

Which is the correct version:
1. what were the people like at the conference?
2. what were the people at the conference like?

thanks for your help :-)

[jno]

either is fine.

[whiffey]

I always try to avoid mini-dilemmas like this by rewording the question, e.g. How were the people at the conference ?

[dundurn]

I agree that spoken in haste both questions might mean the same. I, however, might draw a slight distinction between 1 and 2. 2 implies "what sort of people attended the conference?" 1 could be understood to mean "how did the people behave while they were at the conference?"

[dr john]

...or what were the people like when they were at the conference?

[factor-fiction]

Both versions are as good as the other but neither is ideal. To such a vague question one person might answer "they were all wearing nice cltothes" and another might say "they listened intently and then asked lots of probing questions and gave the speaker a standing ovation".

To get a better answer you need to be more specific about what you are asking.

Do you want to know what type of peopel came? If so then ask that. Better still, be more specific about what you want to know - what age were the people who went... what height/ age/ sex/ weight/ religion/race etc... or what educational background... scruffy or smart, etc

If you want to ask how they behaved/reacted at the conference you should make that clear.