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Anonymous Posted 15 years ago
Grammar
Sentence structure
Hi. Which is the right question: Why do you think were you able to hit the target? OR Why do you think you were able to hit the target? I believe the first one is correct, but I see and hear the second one more often where I live (Asia). The context is, the student hit the target and the teacher is asking him to explain how he did it.
Thank you very much for your help!
Grace
Thank you very much for your help!
Grace
Top answer
This one is correct, Grace: Why do you think you were able to hit the target?
- This one is correct, Grace: Why do you think you were able to hit the target?
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3 Answers
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This one is correct, Grace:
Why do you think you were able to hit the target?
Why do you think you were able to hit the target?
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Thank you. Another question please, why is it that when we take out the parenthetical "do you think", the sentence is "Why were you able to hit the target?", but when we include it, the sequence becomes "you were"? Thanks.
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It's called an indirect question.
Direct questions end with ? and use inverted word order for helping verbs. There are other changes when we convert a direct question into an indirect question. Indirect questions end with a period (full stop) and use normal word order.
I asked him why she did it. (Normal word order)
I asked him, "Why did she do i
Direct questions end with ? and use inverted word order for helping verbs. There are other changes when we convert a direct question into an indirect question. Indirect questions end with a period (full stop) and use normal word order.
I asked him why she did it. (Normal word order)
I asked him, "Why did she do i
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