Can we put 'when' at the head?

Question

Given the sentence:“Do you remember when we got lost?”Is the sentence that has relative clause (‘when we got lost), can we put the relative (when) at the head of the whole sentence? : Like “When do you remember we got lost?”

DHardyani · Accepted Answer

Hi,

As far as I know, when we got lost* on your sentence is not a relative clause. It's a noun clause. As we can change (when we got lost) as "*it".

"Do you remember when we got lost?"
"Do you remember it?"

If you put "when" in the beginning of the question as question word as "When do you remember we got lost?", it will have totally different meaning.

eipjoo“Do you remember when we got lost?”

When means the moment. --> Do you remember the moment we got lost?

eipjoo“When do you remember we got lost?”

When here means at which time. --> At which time do you remember we got lost?
So the word "when" in this question refers to the time you remember, NOT the time we got lost.

DH

Moinkent · Answer

Hi eipjoo
In this example, you cannot put "when" at the start of the sentence. This is because "when" is linked to "we got lost".
You could rephrase this as: "Do you remember that time when we got lost?"
Best wishes
Mo

CalifJim · Answer

eipjooIs the sentence that has relative clause

The sentence does not have a relative clause. It has an indirect (or embedded) question.

When did we get lost?

Do you remember { when we got lost }?

This is like Do you remember the answer to the question "When did we get lost?"

Likewise,

Where did you put the remote control?
Do you [remember / recall / know ] {where you put the remote control}?

You can't front the question word from an indirect question (nor from a relative clause).

CJ

Can we put 'when' at the head?

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