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Musicgold Posted 16 years ago
Grammar

Double question

Hi,

I am not sure if the following sentence is correct. I feel that there are two questions in the same sentence.

Could anybody please tell me, in simple language, what are the three most important options I should look for in this?

Thanks,

MG.
  

Top answer

It's OK. The second question is an indirect question, but it takes the same word order as a direct question because the "correct" position of the verb is too far from the question word what . In such cases, most stylists allow the verb to be moved closer to the question word.

— CalifJim

  • It's OK.
  • The second question is an indirect question, but it takes the same word order as a direct question because the "correct" position of the verb is too far from the question word what .
  • In such cases, most stylists allow the verb to be moved closer to the question word.
  • The alternatives are clearly worse: Could anybody please tell me, in simple language, what the three most important options I should look for in this are ?
  • ) Could anybody please tell me, in simple language, what the three most important options are that I should look for in this?
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12 Answers
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It's OK. The second question is an indirect question, but it takes the same word order as a direct question because the "correct" position of the verb is too far from the question word what. In such cases, most stylists allow the verb to be moved closer to the question word.

The alternatives are clearly worse:

Could anybody pleas
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Thanks a lot CJ. Great explanation.
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CJ,

Consider the following sentences. With the above reasoning, I feel that #2 sounds better than #3, even though #3 is more appropriate grammatically. Is that correct?

2. How big is going to be the discount?
3. How big is the discount going to be?
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MusicgoldI feel that #2 sounds better than #3, even though #3 is more appropriate grammatically. Is that correct?

2. How big is going to be the discount?
3. How big is the discount going to be?
No! Sorry! I'm afraid there is no choice in this one because it's a direct question (i.e., in the main clause). The main verb is is: The dis
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CJ,

I am still confused about this topic. Consider the following sentence. I am not sure if the underlined part is a question or a sentence.

He wants to know what else is not reflected in the stock price.



Thanks.
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MusicgoldCJ,
I am still confused about this topic.
Join the club! Emotion: smile

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Thanks CJ.

I am trying to understand how I can get rid of the indirect question and turn it into a statment.

For eample, consider the following sentences.

5. He wanted to know where was I. < indirect question

6. He wanted to know where I was. < statement

similarly how would sentence #4 ("what else is not...") look like if I changed the indirec
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Musicgold5. He wanted to know where was I. < indirect question
6. He wanted to know where I was. < statement
You have a misunderstanding of this. Example 5 above is not correct. You need to get clear on a few definitions:

A direct question is a main clause with a question mark. (Where was I?)

An indirect question
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MusicgoldHe wants to know what else is not reflected in the stock price.
In the light of your more recent post, I believe that you think there's a way to place is at the end.
It can't be done.

When the question is of the form "What is/are/was/were" or "Who is/are/was/were" and there isn't another noun to link with "what" or "who", the dir
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