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If you have a sentence with a noun clause using "how," like this sentence

"I didn't know how tall he was."

Would the dependent clause just have a state of being verb, or would saying "how tall make it a linking verb?

Another sentence,"I knew that he should've been trying to do his best." Is the whole entire verb phrase "should've been trying to do?"

Thank you

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  • I don't follow you when you talk of "linking verb". "How tall he was" is a clause, but it's not a noun. In fact it's a subordinate interrogative clause (embedded question). The meaning is "I don't know the answer to the question 'How tall was he?'" In your second example, the verb phrase is "knew that he should've been trying to do his best" -- it functions as the predicate of the sentence.
    – BillJ
    Commented May 5, 2020 at 14:41
  • Does this answer your question? Changing subject and verb positions in statements and questions
    – Edwin Ashworth
    Commented May 5, 2020 at 14:59
  • @BillJ What if you're not asking a question, but you are saying something like "I was talking about how tall he was." "how tall he was" is a noun clause (OP), but what would be the simple sentence in the dependent clause? (how tall he was)
    – Seeker
    Commented May 5, 2020 at 15:04
  • "How" can be either exclamative or interrogative. What Is the intended meaning in the sub clause in last your example.
    – BillJ
    Commented May 5, 2020 at 15:16
  • In my example, I was not trying to convey that the clause was an exclamative. Just a declarative sentence where you're saying the sentence in a conversation. Let's say you're talking with someone about another's height, and then you move onto another person to talk. They ask about that same person's height, and you say "I was just talking about how tall he is with (someone)." Really, though, I'm just asking to clarify what the subject and predicate is.
    – Seeker
    Commented May 5, 2020 at 15:19

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