0
Teleostomi Posted 19 years ago
Grammar

"I don't know what is the matter."

0 01blockquote
00I don't know what's the matter with me.12br
12br
10I asked her what was the matter.10Are these sentences correct? Should we change the word order?12br
12blockquote
1-
  

Top answer

0 01font 00Hi,02br 00They're ok. 02font 0-

— Fleder_m@u_S

  • 0 01font 00Hi,02br 00They're ok.
  • 02font 0-
Free · every Monday

Get the Weekly English Kit 📬

New words, one handy idiom, and a 2-minute quiz — delivered to your inbox to keep your streak alive.

9 Answers
0
0 01font00Hi,02br
00They're ok. No need to chage anything.02font0-
0
0
0 01blockquote
01cite10Teleostomi12cite11blockquote
10I don't know what's the matter with me.22br
20I asked her what was the matter.22br
20I asked her what 21b20the matter was.22b22br
22blockquote
22blockquote
1-
0
0
1i00I asked her what 01b00the matter was.02b02i02br
01font02br
00Oh sorry sorry,02br
00I didn't note it. How careless I was.02br
02font0-
0
0
0 Hi there,02br
00sorry to disagree with you guys, but I think the order in that sentence doesn't change. If I'm not mistaken, I was told it's a kind of exception, that is:02br
02br
01b00What's the problem? - I asked her what the problem was.02b00 The order changes, the subject is "the problem".02br
00But:02br
01b00
0
0
0 01blockquote
01cite10Kooyeen12cite10Hi there,12br
10sorry to disagree with you guys, but I think the order in that sentence doesn't change. If I'm not mistaken, I was told it's a kind of exception, that is:12br
10Michael Swan, in his grammar book, says explicitly that both "...asked her what the matter was" and "...asked her w
0
0
1b00What's the problem? - 01font00I asked her what the problem02font00 was.02b00 The order changes, the subject is "the problem".02br
00But:02br
01b00What's the matter? - 01font00I asked her what was the matter02font00.02b00 The order doesn't cha
0
0
1span00Kooyeen,02span02br
02br
01span00You have the 101sup00st02sup00 one right but for some reason you made a “U-turn” on the 201sup00nd02sup00 one.02span02br
02br
01b00What's the problem? - I asked her what the pr
0
0
0 See 05000.02br
02br
00 How about if we muddy the waters a bit.02br
02br
00 Suppose you were putting on a play, let's say, 01i00Hamlet02i00.02br
00 You ask who (Bill, John, or George) will play the role of Hamlet in this idiomatic way: 01i00Who is Hamlet?02i02br
02br
00
0
0
Digging up an old thread as I'm not sure if there has been a more recent one on the same topic. I understand the issue of "the matter" as a subject vs. complement, but a Google search found many examples of both in the same text, e.g.,

All this while, I knew not what was the matter, but rousing immediately from sleep with the noise, I caused
0

Related Questions