How someone

Question

I don't understand how someone can tell so many lies and never feel bad about it.I read the above quote online. What is the grammatical form, function and meaning of "how" in the context?

Rover_KE · Accepted Answer

Answered https://forum.wordreference.com/threads/how-someone.3538494/.

BillJ · Answer

I don't understand how someone can tell so many lies and never feel bad about it.

"How" is an interrogative adverb (a question word) functioning as an adjunct, where it introduces the underlined subordinate interrogative clause (embedded question).

It's the same "how" that we find in the equivalent main clause interrogative How can someone tell so many lies and never feel bad about it?

The clause is marked as subordinate by a combination of initial "how" and uninverted order for what follows: this is what distinguishes it from the main clause.

You've asked similar questions before, I recall. Is there something about such constructions that you don't understand?

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