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The following is from a conversation between a midwife and a pregnant woman who wants to give birth at home instead of at a hospital. The midwife says:

"...I am involved with many births at home. However, we need to determine what the risks are to you and your baby."

The second part of the second sentence seemed interesting to me ".....what the risks are to you and your baby." It does not seem to be grammatically correct. Just look at the sentences:

1- "We need to determine what the risks are to you and your baby."

2- "We need to determine what the risks to you and your baby are."

Grammatically second one seems to be correct, but I can't be sure. So, I wanted to ask. Which one is right?

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2 Answers 2

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They are both acceptable.

There is a tendency to put longer phrases at the end of sentences. So even though the prepostional phrase "to you and your baby" should be close to "risks" (following the principle that modifiers belong next to the word being modified), it is natural to place it at the end, after the very short verb phrase "are".

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They are both correct, both are equally idiomatic. The location difference of the word "are" between these two sentences does not change the meaning.

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