Comments on: “How many there are” vs “How many are there” in Reported Speech

By: Phil Williams

Phil Williams — Fri, 25 Mar 2022 08:37:27 +0000

In reply to hamada.

Hi Hamada, yes that is grammatical.

By: hamada

hamada — Wed, 23 Mar 2022 16:51:32 +0000

is it correct to say: Do we know how many cars there are?

By: Phil Williams

Phil Williams — Thu, 17 Feb 2022 09:00:18 +0000

In reply to Bak.

Hi Bak, yes you’re right thanks for pointing that out, I’ll correct it.

By: Bak

Bak — Thu, 17 Feb 2022 03:00:47 +0000

Shouldn’t it be “He asked what the time was”?

By: Phil Williams

Phil Williams — Mon, 12 Jul 2021 13:14:09 +0000

In reply to sujse9.

You’re welcome, I’m glad it helps!

By: sujse9

sujse9 — Thu, 08 Jul 2021 08:59:19 +0000

In reply to Dalamane.

The point raised by the reader is really interesting. Though English is not my native language so far I believed that I have comprehended the intricacies of its uses in different contexts. I must admit that but for your lucid explanations and examples my understanding of its usages remained vague. I am confident that I will now be able to explain the whole gamut of its related usages in detail. Thanks for the presentation.

By: Phil Williams

Phil Williams — Mon, 28 Jun 2021 13:31:44 +0000

In reply to Dawn Newday.

Yes, it is a constant challenge! With questions like this, it’s something native speakers are only led to consider when someone from a different perspective raises the question. In general, foreign learners are often better equipped to unravel language mysteries, coming at it from a technical angle.

By: Dawn Newday

Dawn Newday — Sat, 26 Jun 2021 10:06:46 +0000

I’m coming to this rather late, after I received one of your emails on the 24th of June 2021. It’s an intriguing variation on sentence structure – thanks for the explanation. It had never occurred to me to analyse it for, like so much of one’s mother-tongue, “it just comes naturally”. Yet, trying to work it out in other languages, and trying to identify quite which rules are at play, certainly gets the grey cells working! Like so much of linguistic alchemy, I understand the rules but trying to explain them to others is very hard. Thanks for all that you do in that regard.

By: Dalamane

Dalamane — Wed, 21 Sep 2016 20:12:08 +0000

Thanks for your explanation!