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Mitsuo23 Posted 14 years ago
Grammar

"who is available" or "who available is"

Hi,


I got an message and one of the sentences says "I need to know who is available for an assignment."


It seems to me that "need to know who available is" is a correct way to say it, but the sender is a native, and so I would like to make sure.


I understand that sentences like "I need to know what is available" is correct, but "who is available"?? Sounds strange to me.


Thank you,

M
  

Top answer

". . " is the correct order.

— Avangi

  • ".
  • .
  • " is the correct order.
  • I can't think of any situation in which the other order would work.
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8 Answers
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". . . . who is available etc." is the correct order. I can't think of any situation in which the other order would work.
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Thank you for the reply, Avangi.

Maybe I'm being a bit confused here. Can I say like, "Do you know who is available?" ?

If I remember correctly I think I have learnt this type of grammar:
"Do you know him?" plus "Who is he?" becomes like "Do you know who he is?" not "Do you know who is he?" And so I've been assuming like "I need to know." plus "who is available?" becomes like
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mitsuwao23Hi,

I got a message and one of the sentences says "I need to know who is available for an assignment." It seems to me that "need to know who available is"
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mitsuwao23Could you point out where my understanding went wrong?
I expect canadian has set you on the right track.

Your two samples are not exactly parallel: who is he? / who is available?.
The first example has two pronouns. You can invert it: He is who. He is who I said he was.
The second example has a pronoun a
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Thank you for your help, both of you,

I think I still am a bit confusing but since I got the general concept I should be able to figure that out gradually as I read this type of sentences.
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mitsuwao23Thank you for your help, both of you. You're welcome.
I think I still am a bit confused but since I got the general concept I should be able to figure that out gradually as I read this type of sentences.
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mitsuwao23If I remember correctly I think I have learnt this type of grammar:
"Do you know him?" plus "Who is he?" becomes like "Do you know who he is?" not "Do you know who is he?" And so I've been assuming like "I need to know." plus "who is available?" becomes like "I need to know who available is."
Could you point out where my understanding went wrong?
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Thank you, Canadian45 for the corrections.


And thank you for the great explanation, CJ. No wonder left after you.Emotion: smile
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