indirect question

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Newguest

#484973 Tue, 04 Mar 08 06:50 PM

Where is Tom? Could you tell me where Tom is? it's clear that the first one is a direct question, and the second one is an indirect question. The position of the word "is" is different.

How about this:

1. What is wrong with this?

2. Could you tell me what is wrong with this? OR Could you tell me what wrong is with this?

So, should it be "what is wrong" or "what wrong is" and WHY? I suppose it should be "what is wrong," but I'm not sure why?

Newguest

Joined on Sun, Feb 25 2007

Regular Member (947)

Cool Breeze

#484986 Tue, 04 Mar 08 07:22 PM

Hi NG

You are right. Indirect questions fall in three categories.

1. There is a word that can begin a clause but the word is not the subject.

What did he say? - Tell me what he said.

2. There isn't a word that can begin a clause. If or whether must be used.

Did he come in time? - Tell me if/whether he came in time .

3. A question word - in Scandinavia we call them interrogative pronouns - is the subject or a part of the subject.

What is wrong with this? - Tell me what is wrong with this.

Whose friend saw it? - Tell me whose friend saw it.

Because the interrogative word is the grammatical subject of the clause, there is no change in the word order.

Cool Breeze

Joined on Fri, Apr 7 2006

Helsinki, Finland

Senior Member (2,697)

The coldest winter I ever spent was a summer in San Francisco.- Mark Twain

Clauses, Direct questions, Indirect questions, Nouns, Pronouns, Word order

Marius Hancu

#484987 Tue, 04 Mar 08 07:25 PM

Google hits:

4 for "Could you tell me what wrong is"

66,800 for "Could you tell me what is wrong"

Now, what do you think?

As to the why: it's this way because this is the way educated people speak, i.e. is the way it's idiomatic to speak, based on the history of the language.