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Anonymous Posted 8 years ago
Grammar

Where should I place "was"?

Are these two sentences similar or not?

1. They asked what lesson was my favourite.

2. They asked what lesson my favourite was.

  

Top answer

[1] * They asked what lesson was my favourite . [2] They asked what lesson my favourite was . [3] They asked what my favourite lesson was .

— BillJ

  • [1] * They asked what lesson was my favourite .
  • [2] They asked what lesson my favourite was .
  • [3] They asked what my favourite lesson was .
  • The underlined elements are subordinate interrogative clauses (embedded questions).
  • Such clauses do not require subject-auxiliary inversion so [1] is ungrammatical.
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1 Answers
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[1] *They asked what lesson was my favourite.

[2] They asked what lesson my favourite was.

[3] They asked what my favourite lesson was.


The underlined elements are subordinate interrogative clauses (embedded questions). Such clauses do not require subject-auxiliary inversion so [1] is ungrammatical.

[2] is grammatical, but

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