"are" at the end of the question????

Question

How would you say this please?1 What  do you think the chances (are) of them coming are?Thank you

Anonymous · Accepted Answer

What do you think the chances are of them coming?

Andriy Lapin · Answer

Greetings, dear friends,

It seems that the phrase is equivalent to the following one:

What are the chances of them coming?

Therefore, we may look upon <do you think> as a special type of insert that should not interfere with the positioning of the operator. In other words:

What do you think are the chances of them coming?

Respectfully, Gleb Chebrikoff

Ticce · Answer

Whould it be wrong to say

What do you think the chances of them coming are ?

I thought both were possible

Kooyeen · Answer

Gleb_ChebrikoffWhat are the chances of them coming?
Therefore, we may look upon as a special type of insert that should not interfere with the positioning of the operator. In other words:
What do you think are the chances of them coming?

I disagree. If that was true, then the following reasoning would be alright:
What do I need? ---> What do you think do I need?
But that should be: What do you think I need?

This kind of problem has always been a big problem for me, and I know it's a big problem for most other learners as well. Sentence structures: what's the right or best word order?
In this case, what I think is that the order depends on the answer you are expecting. In this case, I guess we expect something like "The chances are good/etc.", rather than something like "Good are the chances, etc.". So:

The chances are... what? ---> What do you think the chances are?

Here we also have something that modifies "chances" though: the chances of them coming, the chances of them winning, the chances that he'll be found alive, etc.

1) What do you think the chances of them coming are?
2) What do you think the chances are (of them coming)?

I think that when we speak (or write), we just pick some short fixed expressions and we put them together like "bricks". You usually can feel in advance whether a "brick" is going to be too big and your sentence is going to be too clumsy, and that's why we sometimes stop in the middle of a sentence, change or add some words, or decide to rephrase it completely. In this case, "the chances of them coming" (ex 1) doesn't seem too long to me, and I think it can be considered a single brick without "getting lost". Of course you can always decide to split your bricks (like ex 2), and add whatever modifies the word "chances" like it is an afterthought.
I wouldn't be able to decide which one is the best, without a context. But I'm not a native speaker, and this is just want I think, so if any natives wanted to comment on this, I'd appreciate it.

Ticce · Answer

I have also noticed that this phrase - Do you think - messes up the word order. I don't know any other insert which would do the same. i have come to conslusion after having done some reseach that eaither way can be possible with - do you think. But I might be wrong of course.

"are" at the end of the question????

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