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do you know where is it or it is??

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Kekel  #381226  Mon, 18 Jun 07 09:52 PM
I've always thought it was correct to say:
do you know where it is??

But I was googling this sentence and this website gave me:
do you know where is it --> 57.300
do you know where it is --> 36.800

So, I don't know anymore which one is right...
Please, someone help me out!!!!!!!!
  
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Marius Hancu  #381229  Mon, 18 Jun 07 09:56 PM
what do you want to say?
complete the sentence

  
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Feebs11  #381231  Mon, 18 Jun 07 09:57 PM
Ignore the Google search - on this sort of phrase it really will not help.

You are right that "Do you know where it is?" is correct.

"Do you know where is it" is incomplete [or incorrect]. Many of the Google results are poorly punctuated: "Do you know? Where is it?" is one of these. Some are non-native English trying to ask "where is it?" and getting it wrong.




  
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Kooyeen  #381232  Mon, 18 Jun 07 10:00 PM
Hi Kekel,

Do you know where it is? OK, perfect.
Do you know where is it? NO

 Kekel wrote:

But I was googling this sentence and this website gave me:
do you know where is it --> 57.300
do you know where it is --> 36.800

Don't use google that way. Google's results given on the first page are not relevant at all. Believe me, "do you know where is it" is not common at all, although Google says it is more common than the other version. Smile [:)]



  
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Kekel  #381235  Mon, 18 Jun 07 10:06 PM
Gosh,
I was used to do it all the time and compare the results google gives me!!!!!!!! Surprise [:O]

So, if I'm unsure regarding a grammatical structure, I really need to ask you guys... I'm going to increase my post so much lately!!!!!!! Big Smile [:D]

Thanks a lot, guys! You are very nice teachers!!!
  
Feebs11  #381251  Mon, 18 Jun 07 10:33 PM
MUCH better to ask us! Big Smile [:D]
  
Anonymous  #381273  Tue, 19 Jun 07 12:06 AM
The correcto  one is "Do you know where it is", because this is an indirect question.  The interrogative pronoun is in the middle of the sentence
  
Kekel  #381312  Tue, 19 Jun 07 03:00 AM
Yeah, Feebs, I couldn't agree more with you, but I thought a quick serch on Google would be accurate just to confirm some structures. Now, I realise that there are many mistakes on the net. Gosh! How come I never thought about it??????

See ya!
  
CalifJim  #381316  Tue, 19 Jun 07 03:20 AM
Unfortunately, this is an area of English which may be slowly undergoing a change.  Not only do non-native speakers have difficulty with it, but a surprising number of educated native speakers seem to be using the inverted structure "incorrectly" more and more.  It is so prevalent that some books are calling it neither a direct question nor an indirect question, but a semi-indirect question!

It is probably better to stick to the "correct" version until so many people are doing it that the grammar experts finally give up and say it's perfectly fine! Smile [:)]

You will find, however, that native speakers usually generate the "incorrect" form only when the indirect question is quite long -- almost never with indirect questions of very few words.

CJ

  
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