0
Viborrr Posted 10 years ago
Grammar
order
"...and it would have been difficult to decide who was the most gratified of the three; certainly Helen was not the least so." The Heiress: A Novel
Shouldn't the correct order be: who the most gratified of the three was since it is not question form?
Thank you in advance.
Shouldn't the correct order be: who the most gratified of the three was since it is not question form?
Thank you in advance.
Top answer
No, both those orders are correct. In "difficult to decide who X was", the longer the phrase X, the more the tendency to move "was" forward, so as to prevent it getting lost at the end.
- No, both those orders are correct.
- In "difficult to decide who X was", the longer the phrase X, the more the tendency to move "was" forward, so as to prevent it getting lost at the end.
Get the Weekly English Kit 📬
New words, one handy idiom, and a 2-minute quiz — delivered to your inbox to keep your streak alive.
3 Answers
0
No, both those orders are correct. In "difficult to decide who X was", the longer the phrase X, the more the tendency to move "was" forward, so as to prevent it getting lost at the end.
00
That's a genuine rule/guideline? And how does one decide when phrase X is sufficiently long to warrant the swap?
00
viborrrAnd how does one decide when phrase X is sufficiently long to warrant the swap?There is no fixed rule to determine this. It just depends how the author feels.
0
Related Questions