grammar - Why do we put the verb to be at the end of these questions?





Changing subject and verb positions in statements and questions



Look at the following questions - can anyone give a simple grammatical explanation as to why we put the verb to be at the end of these questions:


Can you tell me where the hospital is?


Do you know where the children are?


Do you know what the answer is?


This is confusing to learners as they are used to seeing the verb to be in questions at the beginning such as:


Is the hospital near here?


Are the children in school?




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