Question formation

Question

A. He asked me which one was correct?B. He asked what country was I from?C. He asked me who was I?(Or who I was)Are these questions correct?

Philip · Accepted Answer

What you have given here are not supposed to be questions, but rather statements of indirect speech.
A. He asked me which one was correct.
B. He asked me which country I was from.
C. He asked me who I was.

Tenjing · Answer

I am sorry. Yes, you are right those were statements not questions. BUT that's not the point I am trying to get. My grammar book says,'If the original question begins what, which,, or who followed by be+complement, we can put the complement before or after be in the report'. Which means the both forms are correct. Like:
A. I asked who the winner was. And I asked who was the winner.
B. He asked what country I was from. And He asked what country was I from.
C. He asked me which one the correct answer was. And He asked me which one was the correct answer.
According to my book, they all are correct, what's your opinion on this?

Fivejedjon · Answer

The longer the subject of the verb BE, the more acceptable is inversion, in my opinnion. The shorter the subject, the less acceptable it is.

He asked who I was.
~~He asked who was I.~~

He asked who the man in the dark suit was.
He asked who was the man in the dark suit.

He asked who the man in the dark suit talking to my wife was.
He asked who was the man in the dark suit talking to my wife.

I would use only the first of each of the pairs above.

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