Timeline for Can I ask 'what your name is?'
Current License: CC BY-SA 3.0
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Jun 16, 2020 at 9:11 | history | edited | CommunityBot |
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Dec 8, 2014 at 8:30 | comment | added | Ben Kovitz | @F.E. BTW, I understand "subordinate interrogative clause" to be a technical term used mostly by linguists, not well known to most laypeople. I thought it meant the bolded text in sentences like these: "I don't know if my name is Rumpelstiltskin" and "Whether the price goes up or down, I come out ahead." I just googled, though, and it appears that some linguists are using the term more broadly, with some variation among sources, but some indeed include your example. This sounds to me like a dangerously confusing term to use with EFL learners. What do you think? | |
Dec 8, 2014 at 8:30 | comment | added | Ben Kovitz | @F.E. If you're doubting whether "relative pronoun" is a common term for pronouns that introduce relative clauses, it's easy to find books that use this terminology. Some examples: this, this, this, this. There must be hundreds more. Most native speakers learn the term "relative pronoun" by high school, even though most forget what it means. | |
Dec 8, 2014 at 7:28 | comment | added | Ben Kovitz | @F.E. I didn't say that interrogative and relative pronouns were all the same. I listed some pronouns that can play both roles. If there's a less confusing way to explain it, though, I'm all for it. | |
Dec 8, 2014 at 7:25 | comment | added | F.E. | The problem is that the grammar that you are opining is incorrect. For one thing, interrogative words and relative words are not the same. This site has many EFL learners on it, and people who want to learn grammar. Many of them might get misled by what you are stating in your post. | |
Dec 8, 2014 at 7:21 | comment | added | Ben Kovitz | @F.E. I'm deliberately not citing sources because I'd like the reader to understand first-hand what is going on. I see a lot of citing of rules and sources and highly technical language as if learning grammar were something like making a legal argument in a court of law, something only highly trained specialists can do. I don't want to contribute to that. Or at least, I'd like to provide an alternative. | |
Dec 8, 2014 at 7:18 | comment | added | F.E. | Do you know what a subordinate interrogative clause looks like? | |
Dec 8, 2014 at 7:17 | comment | added | F.E. | Perhaps you could put in your answer post an excerpt (and maybe a link) to a vetted grammar source that supports your idea about relative and interrogative words. | |
Dec 8, 2014 at 7:15 | comment | added | Ben Kovitz | @F.E. Do you think "I know what your name is" is a statement or a question? | |
Dec 8, 2014 at 7:15 | comment | added | F.E. | "The interrogative pronouns what, who, whom, whose, what, where, and when can also function as relative pronouns. The word order tells the listener which role the interrogative/relative pronoun is playing." <== That is wrong. Interrogative words and relative words are not the same words. | |
Dec 8, 2014 at 7:11 | comment | added | F.E. | I just showed it in a previous comment: Consider: "My name is Tom" --> "Your name is what?" --> "I know [what your name is]." --> which has a paraphrase like: I know the answer to the question 'What is your name?' | |
Dec 8, 2014 at 7:09 | comment | added | Ben Kovitz | @F.E. OK, now I think I understand. Why do you think what your name is in "I know what your name is" is interrogative? | |
Dec 8, 2014 at 7:08 | history | edited | Ben Kovitz | CC BY-SA 3.0 |
added 13 characters in body
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Dec 8, 2014 at 7:02 | comment | added | F.E. | The stuff inside the square brackets is a subordinate interrogative clause. | |
Dec 8, 2014 at 7:01 | comment | added | Ben Kovitz | @F.E. Sorry, I still don't understand. "I know what your name is" sounds to me like a statement, not a question. What do you intend the square brackets to mean? | |
Dec 8, 2014 at 6:59 | comment | added | F.E. | A relative "what" is found in relative clauses, while an interrogative "what" is found in interrogative clauses. My examples used interrogative clauses--this includes the example: "I know [what your name is]." | |
Dec 8, 2014 at 6:56 | comment | added | Ben Kovitz | @F.E. Now I think I understand. In "I know what your name is", what functions as a relative pronoun, not an interrogative pronoun. Notice that it doesn't ask a question. It introduces a relative clause, where it stands for the subject-complement of is. It's an interrogative pronoun in your other examples. | |
Dec 8, 2014 at 6:55 | comment | added | F.E. | In my examples, the word "what" is an interrogative word (not a relative word). | |
Dec 8, 2014 at 6:41 | comment | added | Ben Kovitz | @F.E. I think I follow your example, but now I'm not sure what your point is. Did you have a question or suggestion, or did you find an error or something unclear? | |
Dec 8, 2014 at 5:18 | comment | added | F.E. | Consider: "My name is Tom" --> "Your name is what?" --> "I know [what your name is]." --> which has a paraphrase like: I know the answer to the question 'What is your name?' | |
Dec 7, 2014 at 23:31 | comment | added | Ben Kovitz | @F.E. I tried to explain it in the rest of the sentence you quoted from. Clearly I failed. As much as I'm trying to avoid grammar terminology, I'm currently thinking that "relative pronoun" is unavoidable. Can you think of another way to refer to the "subordinate-clause-introducing role" of who/what/where/when/why without turning the answer into a grammar glossary? | |
Dec 7, 2014 at 22:36 | comment | added | F.E. | "In this sentence, the word what functions as a relative pronoun:" <== Er, "what" is a relative pronoun? | |
Dec 7, 2014 at 20:52 | history | edited | Ben Kovitz | CC BY-SA 3.0 |
Total rewrite, hopefully clarifying the way "What your name is?" is misheard as a relative clause.
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Dec 7, 2014 at 20:46 | comment | added | Ben Kovitz | @Araucaria OK, I just rewrote nearly all of it, focusing as narrowly as I could on the original question. It's still longer and more jargon-laden than I'd like, though. :( | |
Dec 7, 2014 at 20:42 | history | edited | Ben Kovitz | CC BY-SA 3.0 |
Total rewrite, hopefully clarifying the way "What your name is?" is misheard as a relative clause.
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Dec 7, 2014 at 19:53 | comment | added | Ben Kovitz | @Araucaria Thanks. I just made a small tweak. But now I'm thinking that my overall attempt to address "when the normal word order reverses in a question and when it doesn't" has drowned out the main point. Rethinking… | |
Dec 7, 2014 at 19:51 | history | edited | Ben Kovitz | CC BY-SA 3.0 |
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Dec 7, 2014 at 14:03 | comment | added | Araucaria - Not here any more. | "English declarative statements normally put the subject before the verb. For example, in 'Your name is Jamius', the subject is 'your name' and the verb is 'is'. English questions normally put the subject after the verb (except as explained below)." I think that could mislead quite a bit ... :) You might want to tweak it a bit. [Of course, there is a simpler explanation but it involves a principled use of the term aux ...] :D | |
Dec 5, 2014 at 18:37 | comment | added | Ben Kovitz | @Araucaria Punch is not the verb be. I tried to indicate in the last paragraph that verbs other than be require an auxiliary when made into questions, without complicating the answer so much it would overwhelm a beginner. I'd add a link to a similar answer that explains how to use those verbs in questions. Do you know of one? | |
Dec 5, 2014 at 16:30 | comment | added | Araucaria - Not here any more. | But in the usual canonical question version of "You punched who?", The subject will still come before the verb 'punched'! :) "Who did you punch" | |
Dec 5, 2014 at 9:28 | history | answered | Ben Kovitz | CC BY-SA 3.0 |