Which sentence is correct?
They won't tell me where is the office.
They won't tell me where the office is.
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5Your title asks one question and your text asks a different question. They have opposite answers, and if you can't tell the difference between one question and another, it's unlikely we can offer you any help.– John LawlerFeb 19, 2014 at 17:39
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related (possible dupe) to the edited question: english.stackexchange.com/q/68737/8019– Tim LymingtonMar 6, 2014 at 17:23
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Related.– tchrist ♦Jun 9 at 0:34
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3 Answers
The difference is between
a question in direct reported speech, or direct question
He asked: "Where is the station?"
He asked: "What are you doing this evening?"
and
a question in indirect reported speech, or indirect question
He asked where the station was/is (if the situation of the station has not changed).
He asked what I was doing that evening.
The word order in an indirect question is the word order of a declarative sentence, not of an interrogative one, that is:
Subject | (Auxiliary) | Verb | Object
There is no Auxiliary-Subject or Verb-Subject inversion as is the case in an interrogative sentence.
And there is not a question mark either.
answered Feb 19, 2014 at 19:41
Where is the office? They won't tell me where the office is.
They won't tell me where the office is is correct.
The problem with the first sentence is that using where + is is creating an interrogative mood, when the beginning of the sentence suggests an indicative mood.
The interrogative mood is commonly conveyed by inverting the subject-verb order. [Source][Author] The subject is the office and is is the verb, in the sentences you mentioned in the body of your question.
