I have Googled this with inconclusive results. If I want to say “He left town wondering what adventures await.” Is that correct grammar? One source says “await” requires an object and the object is never a person. In this example, the very last word (not shown) would be [him], but that is understood. It sounds right vs. “He left town wondering what adventures wait for him.” The latter seems awkward. I need a ruling from the grammar gurus!
Well, you have your tenses wrong for a start. If he left town, that’s a past action, and therefore he was wondering what advantures awaited him, or waited for him.
But awaited or waited? Either will work. The OED notes a number of intransitive senses for “await”, but they are all considered obsolete or archaic. Unless you’re striving for a deliberately archaic tone, therefore, if you choose await you need an object. I don’t see any reason why the object can’t be a person (". . . what adventures awaited him") and in fact the relevant sense is defined in the OED as “to wait for a coming event or person”, so clearly the object can be a person.
Await means to wait for.
I await Susie. I wait for Susie.
“…wondering what adventures await him.” would be better.