In Word order^x, Clauses^x

Hi Kooyen,Would the following extract from perfectyourenglish.com help answer the question or create more confusion?"Wh-questions are reported by using ask (or another verb like ask) + question word + clause. We use normal word order. "What is your name?" he asked me. He asked what my name was....

Clive wrote:Please at least inform us of the present situation.Please inform us of at least the present situation.Please inform us of the present situation at least.At least please inform us of the present situation. I wouldn't say any of these are incorrect, although #2 would be less common.....

Welcome to EF, ZhukThere is no unanimous "correct" reply to your last question. As a rule, English is very flexible and in many cases liberal grammarians accept more than one alternative while some others insist on only one that they think is right. I would go for has, like you."Our teacher of...

Can I say this rule - "Subject and Object can never come next to each other"No, because the word order is different in an indirect question: I wonder whom you are going to marry and in a relative clause: She is the woman whom you are going to marry. CJ

Hi AnthonPlease capitalize I. Neither sentence is correct. Indirect questions should have the same word order as affirmative clauses:I didn't know what I could do for him.I didn't tell him what I saw.The subject is before the finite verb. Easy. Always. No exceptions.CB

Goodman wrote:Away from Google, “He is in troubles again with the laws” is not a wrong sentence and I am saying this with conviction. Sorry Goodman, but my very sincere and adamant advice to you is that you should say that with considerably less conviction. A natural and correct version of...

Hi, 1. Does it mean that using 'in which' still keep the subordinate clause as an adjectival clause? Yes. You can see this better if you change the word order to say, rather awkwardly, they talked about the way which Mary dressed in. 2. Why when we are using 'how', the subordinate clause will...

Yankee wrote:I agree with Goodman but would like to add that this word order would also be very common:I was wondering what the difference between a planet and a star was / is. Hi allStrictly speaking, this is the only grammatically correct sentence but I accept all the others as well because...

I think YL's suggestion is good. And don't neglect this possibility: Can you tell me the last time you saw him? As for the word order of an indirect question with heavy clauses, you can be flexible. You don't need to strand the verb way at the end if it sounds very awkward. Your case b...

Clive wrote:The bottom line, of course, is that any of these systems is OK as long as it provides a tool that someone finds useful in learning to speak good English. Would you call this a relative clause? I don't know where the pen is. What would you say it relates to? When I asked this, I...