Be aware that + embedded interrogatives
I asked my students to write a sentence asking what love is in English in the test.
What i want my students to write is
“Do you know what love is?”
But some of my students wrote like this
“Are you aware that what love is?”
Is the second sentence also grammatically okay?
Top answer
[1] Do you know what love is ? [2] Are you aware that (of) what love is ? No: only declarative content clauses (and relative clauses) can be introduced by the subordinator "that", not interrogative ones (embedded questions).
- [1] Do you know what love is ?
- [2] Are you aware that (of) what love is ?
- No: only declarative content clauses (and relative clauses) can be introduced by the subordinator "that", not interrogative ones (embedded questions).
- Your first example [1] is fine, of course.
- The preposition "of" is optional in [2].
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[1] Do you know what love is?
[2] Are you aware that (of) what love is?
No: only declarative content clauses (and relative clauses) can be introduced by the subordinator "that", not interrogative ones (embedded questions).
Your first example [1] is fine, of course. The preposition "of" is optional in [2].
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What i want my students to write is
“Do you know what love is?”
I'd probably write "What is love?"
But some of my students wrote like this
“Are you aware that what love is?” Incorrect. You could say eg “Are you aware of what love is?”
Clive
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