"who the son is" VS "who is the son"

Question

Hello

,

I would like to know what sentence structure I must use to ask a question in an affirmative sentence.

I wrote 2 sentences. Are they right?
( A ) I don't remember who the father is, and who's the son.
( B ) I don't remember who the father is and who the son is.

Thank you very much,

Spoonfedbaby.

HaffiezMike · Accepted Answer

SpoonfedBabyHello,

I would like to know what sentence structure I must use to ask a question in an affirmative sentence.

I wrote 2 sentences. Are they right?
( A ) I don't remember who the father is, and who's the son.
( B ) I don't remember who the father is and who the son is.

Thank you very much,

Spoonfedbaby.

As fas as I know :

A is correct if WHO'S means who is

B is also correct

Alternatively you can also use I don't remember who is the father and who is the son

SpoonfedBaby · Answer

Hello.

Thanks to HaffiezMike.

I am still confused.
( A ) I don't remember who the father is, and who is the son.
( B ) I don't remember who the father is and who the son is.

In the sentence A, "who is the son" sounds like a direct question. The verb "is" is placed in front of the noun "son." My sentence is an indirect question. Should be the noun in front of the verb like?

We say "who the father is" in a direct question. But don't we say "I don't remember who the father is" because it is an indirect question (declarative sentence)?

Thank you very much,

Spoonfedbaby

Eimai_Anglos · Answer

I don't remember who the father is, and who is the son.

Sounds like a question - especially with the comma and "and". All it lacks is a question mark.

I don't remember who the father is or who is the son.

is a statement.

But both sound a little odd. However, the spoken meaning is dependent entirely on your intonation.

I don't remember who the father is or who the son is.

Is undeniably a statement and sounds more natural.

I don't remember who is the father or who is the son.

Is undeniably a statement and sounds OK.

Paco2004 · Answer

I have talked many times about this sort of issue in English learners' forums. Let me throw my two yens.

I think an English statement "X is Y" is used in two ways.

1) X is a subset of {Y}. (EX) His father is a doctor.

This type of statement cannot be reversed. That is, "A doctor is his father" is a wrong sentence. If you change "a doctor" to "what" in your mind, you'll get "His father is what?". If you grammatically arrange this into a direct wh-question, you will get "What is his father?", And if you change this into an indirect wh-question, you will get "She asked me what his father was". It is clear "what" works as a complement in both direct and indirect questions.

2) X is equal to Y. (EX) His father is John Smith.

This type of statement can be reversed. The reversed sentence "John Smith is his father"[2] is semantically the same as the original "His father is John Smith"[1]. If you change "John Smith" in [1] to "who", you will get a direct wh-question "Who is his father?" by grammatically arraniging "His father is who?". Here "who" stands as the complement. Accordingly, the corresponding indirect wh-question is "She asked me who his father was".

If you change "John Smith" in [2] to "who", you will get a direct wh-question "Who is his father?". Here "who" stands as the subject. Accordingly, the corresponding indirect wh-question is "She asked me who was his father".

Hope this helps you.
paco

CalifJim · Answer

Normally you don't invert subject and verb in an indirect question.

I don't remember who the father is or who the son is.

However, in everyday speech we often make a little pause and use the direct question:

I don't remember: Who's the father and who's the son?

(Note how the "or" and "and" alternate in these.)

Jim

"who the son is" VS "who is the son"

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