English Grammar Drills

Noun Clauses 105
9. My friends were trying to guess they would pick which one.
10. I had no idea about we should do what.
11. I voted for whom is nobody’s business but mine.
12. They had to say what about the economy was pretty convincing.
13. The car was parked they said it would be where.
14. You will be tested only on you have learned what in this class.
15. John gave Mary what for her birthday came as a complete surprise to her.
Probably the most common error that nonnative speakers make when they use wh- clauses
is that they mistakenly use the inverted verb word order of information questions. Since information
questions are much more common than wh- clauses, it is natural that many nonnative
speakers associate all wh- words with the inverted verb word order used in information questions.
Here are some examples, first with an information question, then a wh- clause mistakenly
using the same question word order, and finally the correct wh- clause word order. The wh- word
is in italics, and the verb (or first verb if there is more than one) is in bold:
Information question: Who is that man?
Incorrect wh- clause: X I know who is that man.
Correct wh- clause: I know who that man is.
Information question: Where are we going?
Incorrect wh- clause: X I know where are we going.
Correct wh- clause: I know where we are going.
Information question: Whom should we ask?
Incorrect wh- clause: X I know whom should we ask.
Correct wh- clause: I know whom we should ask.