dear all

I have two example sentence :

- i do not know what is in the box

- i do not know what the homework is (or may be possible : i don't know what is the homework)

i belived it will be used several times in toelf exam, can any one explain it to me, please ?

thanks, what is the rule ?

I think you are asking for a rule about the order of subject and verb in indirect questions.

Don't invert subject and verb in these structures. Use the subject first, then the verb.
Do leave the question word at the beginning of the clause, however.

Direct question: What is in the box? [Question form of "Something is in the box." (Subject "what"/"something"; verb "is".) ]
Indirect question: I don't know what is in the box. "what" - subject - first; "is" - verb - second.
__________

Direct question: What is the homework? [Question form of "The homework is what/something"). (Subject "homework"; verb "is".) ]
Indirect question: I don't know what the homework is. "homework" - subject - first; "is" - verb - second.
__________

When a form of the verb "to be" is involved, it may be slightly more difficult to determine which word is the subject.

CJ

Hi, Latin,

No, it is not wrong to say "What is the homework about?"
Any time you want to know what the homework is about is the context!

I suppose the question that is used more often for this is, "What do you have to do for homework?"

In a direct question, subject and verb are inverted, and the question word is placed at the beginning of the clause.

You are a very important person.
You are who.
Invert subject and verb: "you are (who)" becomes "are you (who)".
Place the question word at the beginning: "are you who" becomes "Who are you?"

-- Who are you?
-- I am a very important person.

In an indirect question, subject and verb are not inverted, but the question word is still placed at the beginning of the clause.

I don't know - you are who.
[Don't invert subject and verb.]
Place the question word at the beginning: I don't know who you are.
_______

Note that if the question word is the subject, it has to be placed at the beginning of the clause, so inversion of subject and verb cannot be done in such cases (direct questions).

What bothers you most about English grammar? (Not, "Bothers what you most ..."!!!)
It's hard for me to know what bothers you most about English grammar.

CJ