核心问题
Do you know ____? A. what is his name B. how is his name C. what his name is D. how his name is(全国高考)
答案为 C, 能否选 A 呢?
词典解答
选 C 固然正确,选 A 也没有错误。1995 年版的 PEU(§482) 明确指出,在 who/what/which + be + 表语(主语补足语)构成的间接问句中,be 既可以放在表语的前面,亦可以放在它的后面:
“一直接：Who's the best player here? 谁是这里的王牌？
间接: She asked me who was the best player. She asked me who the best player was. 她问我谁是王牌。
一直接: What's the matter? 出了什么事?
间接: I asked what was the matter.
I asked what the matter was. 我问出了什么事。
一直接: Which is my seat? 哪个座位是我的?
间接: She wondered which was her seat.
She wondered which her seat was. 她不知道哪个座位是她的。”
[附注]PEU的作者只是指出了存在两种语序的事实,而没有指出存在两种语序的原因。我们认为,之所以存在两种语序,是因为what/who/which既可以分析为表语,又可以分析为主语的缘故,见 ,what 。