Search results for 'tag:Indirect questions tag:Pronouns' matching tags 'Indirect questions' and 'Pronouns'

Re: indirect question

Cool Breeze — Tue, 04 Mar 2008 19:22:36 GMT

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.

To-infinitive/Full-infinitive as subject/object...

Anonymous — Mon, 28 Jan 2008 00:38:20 GMT

Hi,

How would I grammatically deconstruct the following sentence?

Melinda wanted to know how long the trip would take.

I may be WAAAAY off the mark but this is my attempt:

A) Melinda is the subject.
B) wanted is the main (transitive) verb.
C) to know is the object, even though it is actually a (full-infinitive) verb.
D) how long the trip would take is the "object of the object" and is an indirect question [Object, Subject, Verb]. In a direct question form it would be the trip would take how long [Subject, Verb, Object], take being a transitive verb for which how long functions as a pronoun, e.g., for 30 minutes.

If the above analysis is correct, what would you call D) the "object of the object"?

Thanks in advance to the linguistic geniuses out there.

X.

Re: conjunction and verb

CalifJim — Fri, 26 Oct 2007 21:02:53 GMT

Conjunction

Does he know "when" the concert is starting?
No. Interrogative pronoun in an indirect question.
James had to retype his document "when" his computer crashed OK
Kevin learned Japanese language "when" he was in Japan OK

Verb

I "was doing" my homework when the doorbell rang. OK.
She "was doing" her homework OK
John "was doing" his regular physical exercise OK

"Have" you done your homework? OK (Auxiliary verb.)
They "have" several kinds of vitamins in the display case OK
They "have" not delivered the document on time OK (Auxiliary verb.)

Those books "cost" thirty dollars. OK
I find that the "cost" of traveling to Europe is to high No. Noun.
It "cost" me a fortune to buy that necklace OK.

Re: do you know where is it or it is??

Anonymous — Mon, 18 Jun 2007 23:06:36 GMT

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

Re: Relative Clauses and Indirect Questions

Cool Breeze — Wed, 13 Jun 2007 14:41:56 GMT

Clive wrote:
Would you call this a relative clause? I don't know where the pen is. What would you say it relates to?

Hi Clive

I learned my grammatical terminology as a schoolboy and as far as I can remember most of the terms I learned were applicable to all the languages I studied. There were/are exceptions, of course. There is no gerund in Finnish and Swedish, for example. Maybe the writers of grammar books deliberately wanted to make grammar easier for us that way.

As I read EnglishForums I frequently see grammatical terms I have never seen anywhere, and I don't have a clue as to what they really mean even though I think I know English grammar reasonably well. I am not saying my terms are better or more correct than the ones I don't know and use. Differences in terminology may result in misunderstandings, though. I suppose there's nothing we can do about that.

As for your sentence, in my grammar the clause in bold is an indirect question, not a relative clause. Where isn't a relative pronoun in my English, what is. By the way, the Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary agrees with me on defining what as a relative pronoun in some contexts:

"8. (used relatively to indicate that which): I will send what was promised."

Cheers
CB

Re: Relative Clauses and Indirect Questions

Cool Breeze — Wed, 13 Jun 2007 08:48:22 GMT

Clive wrote:
I don't see any of these as relative clauses. They are noun clauses.

eg noun clause I read what he wrote.
eg relative clause I read the letter which he wrote. Here, which he wrote is relative (ie relates to) the noun 'letter'.

I don't see any indirect questions, either.

Hi Clive

This is an interesting thread. All maner of terms are used to describe clauses - and I am not saying your terms are wrong. However, what is very commonly considered a relative pronoun which includes the antecedent. The following quotation is from Otto Jespersen's Essentials of English Grammar:

"33.6 Though the relative and interrogative pronouns and adverbs beginning with wh are identical in form, it is possible in most cases to tell whether a clause is relative or interrogative. What is relative in 'I insist on paying what it has cost,' but interrogative in 'I insist on knowing what it has cost.'"

Jespersen doesn't use the term "noun clause" at all. Of course that doesn't mean "noun clause" is an incorrect term, it just proves there are many ways to describe language. In fact, I don't think I have ever read a grammar book that uses the term "noun clause."

To me, all of the original poster's what-clauses are relative clauses. No. 5 isn't a sentence, though, as it has no main clause; in other words, the part preceding what has no subject and finite verb.

Cheers
CB

Re: sentence analysis 9/12/06

Inchoateknowledge — Sat, 09 Dec 2006 20:53:03 GMT

A day will come when you will no longer remember my face.

when here is a conjunction word
A relative clause is introduced by a relative pronoun. When is not a relative pronoun. consequently, there is no relative clause in the sentence

Tell me when you will arrive.

yes, the object is a noun clause used adverbially.

Indirect question, yes

Re: when you have done

CalifJim — Thu, 07 Sep 2006 07:49:08 GMT

This is not a mandatory rule. It's something which is often done (thus, to me, optional), per Swan.

Which part is not mandatory? I may have misunderstood, but I'm assuming the rule you are referring to is: will cannot be used in a when clause where when is an adverbial conjunction. I don't believe there's anything that's not mandatory about it. Do you have an example?

(My comments below are to the effect that the examples are not cases where the rule applies.)

[The] day will come when I will get used to sleeping there when is a relative pronoun with antecedent day, not an adverbial conjunction.

no idea when I will get paid when in an indirect question, not an adverbial conjunction. When will I get paid?

I don't know when I will be able to see her when in an indirect question, not an adverbial conjunction. When will I be able to see her?

These are not

When I (*will) get used to sleeping there, the day will come.
When I (*will) get paid, I have no idea.
When I [am / (*will be)] able to see her, I don't know.

in the intended readings, i.e., the last two are not to be read as fronted object constructions.

CJ

Re: who or whoever

CalifJim — Sun, 12 Mar 2006 05:21:47 GMT

1 Whoever wins will be expected to take the rest of us for a meal.

2 I don't know who knows the truth.

whoever (fused relative pronoun equivalent to he who) has the semantic component no matter who it is or anyone who.

The first sentence means:

The person who wins, no matter who it is, will be expected to take the rest of us for a meal.
No matter who wins will be expected to take the rest of us for a meal.
Anyone who wins will be expected to take the rest of us for a meal.

Regarding the second sentence:

whoever is not used in an indirect question structure.
Indirect question structure:

Who knows the truth?
I don't know. I don't know who knows the truth.

This sentence is not saying I don't know anyone who knows the truth.

Re: vocabulary + "it"

komountain — Wed, 26 Oct 2005 09:07:41 GMT

(A knock on the door)

Mr. Ko: Who is it?

(No answers. Mr. Ko opens the door and finds no one at the door, so he closes it. A little later, he hears another knock on the door.)

Mr. Ko: Who is it?

(Again, he opens the door and finds no one out there. A minute later he hears yet another knock.)

Mr. Ko: Who is it, knocking the door again and again?

...........................

Put in an indirect question, the last sentence above will be something like:

I really can't tell who it is, knocking the door again and again.

Rather than considering 'it' part of a cleft sentence structure, I'd see it as a demonstrative pronoun.

However, if you add 'that is,' the sentence will be:
I really can't tell who it is that is knocking the door again and again. (Still makes sense, wordy as it is.)

In this case, the functional status of 'it' becomes ambiguous, at least to me. Would it be part of a cleft sentence going together with its partner 'that', or just a demonstrative pronoun, with 'that' being viewed as a relative pronoun whose referent is 'who'? I am not so sure.