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Henry74 Posted 13 years ago
Grammar

Inversion

Hello everyone,

I know that Can you tell me what her name is? is correct, as opposed to Can you tell me what's her name?
I'm having trouble deciding what happens when I have a long and complex sentence instead of just her name. Could you please help me?

For example

a) Can you tell me what the software modifications that you recommended at the meeting were?

That sounds awkward to me. Isn't the verb a little stranded? Especially considering that one might have something else to add. E.g., [...] at the meeting that I unfortunately couldn't attend to.
Is inversion allowed in this case?

b) Can you tell me what are the software modifications that you recommended at the meeting?

Alternatively, could I split the sentence?

c) Can you tell me what the software modifications were that you recommended at the meeting?

Thank you for your help
H.
  

Top answer

Henry74 a) Can you tell me what the software modifications that you recommended at the meeting were? That sounds awkward to me. Isn't the verb a little stranded?

— RandomGuy

  • Henry74 a) Can you tell me what the software modifications that you recommended at the meeting were?
  • That sounds awkward to me.
  • Isn't the verb a little stranded?
  • No, that is the correct way of writing it.
  • It wouldn’t sound awkward to a native speaker, but inversion would.
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18 Answers
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Henry74a) Can you tell me what the software modifications that you recommended at the meeting were?
That sounds awkward to me. Isn't the verb a little stranded?
No, that is the correct way of writing it. It wouldn’t sound awkward to a native speaker, but inversion would.
Henry74Can you tell me what the software modifications were th
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Henry74Alternatively, could I split the sentence?c) Can you tell me what the software modifications were that you recommended at the meeting?
This is definitely the best solution in my opinion.

By the way you might hear the term 'heavy clause'. You can usually move words around a heavy clause, placing them where they are not in their canonical positi
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CalifJimThis is definitely the best solution in my opinion.
Emotion: surprise

To me, that sounds ne
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Henry74a) Can you tell me what the software modifications that you recommended at the meeting were?That sounds awkward to me. Isn't the verb a little stranded? Especially considering that one might have something else to add. E.g., [...] at the meeting that I unfortunately couldn't attend.
It sounds like you'd run out of air
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enoonThat perfectly fine grammatically
Emotion: surprise
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Aspara GusCan you tell me what were the software modifications that you recommended at the meeting? sounds totally ungrammatical and non-native to me.
I can accept that it sounds totally ungrammatical to you, but not non-native — unless you haven't been listening to much broadcast news lately, not to mention television shows and films.

This sor
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I guess I’m just not noticing them, then. Emotion: thinking
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Aspara GusI guess I’m just not noticing them, then.
Just a little advice: Best not even to try. Once they begin to be noticeable, they multiply like rabbits!
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Thank you Gus, Jim and enoon; that was highly informative.

H.
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