the correct position of the verb in a specific indirect question

English translation: Rewrite

GLOSSARY ENTRY (DERIVED FROM QUESTION BELOW)
English term or phrase:the correct position of the verb in a specific indirect question
Selected answer:Rewrite

08:19 May 5, 2023
    The asker opted for community grading. The question was closed on 2023-05-09 07:54:16 based on peer agreement (or, if there were too few peer comments, asker preference.)


English language (monolingual) [PRO]
Linguistics
English term or phrase: the correct position of the verb in a specific indirect question
Has ' is ' been put in the right place in the following sentence or not?

When you want to go on holiday and eat well, don't forget to surf the web to find out what the best food in the place you're going to visit is.
Rosario Liberto
Italy
Local time: 06:17
Rewrite
Explanation:
It's OK but the entire sentence is very clunky and overlong

When you want to eat well on holiday, you can websurf/ Google to find out/discover what is the best food in the place/area you"re visiting

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Note added at 24 mins (2023-05-05 08:43:58 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

Or
what the best food is

But I'd rewrite that too and just say

and find/discover the best food of...
No real need for "-is" at all
.





--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 4 hrs (2023-05-05 12:49:27 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

both "in" and "of" are OK here

"When you want to eat well on holiday, you can websurf/Google to find/discover the best food in/of the place/area you're visiting.

I've given you several alternative words to use

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Note added at 14 hrs (2023-05-05 23:17:47 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

Syntax in English is often more abiut flow than rules, hence best to remove the "is" .
Too many verbs in the original sentence anyway
.

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Note added at 4 days (2023-05-10 06:51:11 GMT) Post-grading
--------------------------------------------------

Glad to have helped. Agree with Tony
Selected response from:

Yvonne Gallagher
Ireland
Local time: 05:17
Grading comment
Selected automatically based on peer agreement.
4 KudoZ points were awarded for this answer



SUMMARY OF ALL EXPLANATIONS PROVIDED
4 +4Rewrite
Yvonne Gallagher


Discussion entries: 7





  

Answers


18 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5 peer agreement (net): +4
Rewrite


Explanation:
It's OK but the entire sentence is very clunky and overlong

When you want to eat well on holiday, you can websurf/ Google to find out/discover what is the best food in the place/area you"re visiting

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 24 mins (2023-05-05 08:43:58 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

Or
what the best food is

But I'd rewrite that too and just say

and find/discover the best food of...
No real need for "-is" at all
.





--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 4 hrs (2023-05-05 12:49:27 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

both "in" and "of" are OK here

"When you want to eat well on holiday, you can websurf/Google to find/discover the best food in/of the place/area you're visiting.

I've given you several alternative words to use

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 14 hrs (2023-05-05 23:17:47 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

Syntax in English is often more abiut flow than rules, hence best to remove the "is" .
Too many verbs in the original sentence anyway
.

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 4 days (2023-05-10 06:51:11 GMT) Post-grading
--------------------------------------------------

Glad to have helped. Agree with Tony

Yvonne Gallagher
Ireland
Local time: 05:17
Meets criteria
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish
PRO pts in category: 55
Grading comment
Selected automatically based on peer agreement.
Notes to answerer
Asker: Thanks a lot. So, is it ' of the place etc.' and not ' in the place etc. ' , right?

Asker: Thanks a lot again!

Asker: It's very interesting that you can use both ' what is the best food ' and ' what the best food is ', because I know that there are very strict grammar rules to follow with sentence structure.

Asker: Thanks again!

Asker: Thanks again.


Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  liz askew
1 hr
  -> Many thanks:-)

agree  Christine Andersen
2 hrs
  -> Thanks:-)

agree  Tony M: Gramar rules in EN are not always that srtict, but bending them can sometimes introduce a nuance of meaning — as in Yvonne's second proposed word order.
4 days

agree  Anastasia Kalantzi
5 days
  -> Thanks:-)
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