Request for classification of grammar problem

[aaronhee]

Dear All,

I have a grammar question which I don't even know where to start looking up in my grammar book so I thought I would ask it here. Here goes:

This sentence or rather question:-

"Which of the following is the amount of money he can possibly have?"

is I know is grammatically wrong. But I am hoping to know why by looking up in my grammar book, so where do I start?

- interrogative speech + use of which/who/what/where...etc??

- use of can + infinitive?

Which/Who/What/Where/Why are one class of interrogatives different from "Does/Do/Did", right?

- Where should I look up upon to check their usage?

As far as I understand, the "does/do/did" will always use an infinitive in an interrogative speech regardless whether the subject is singular or plural? i.e. a question. for example,

"How much money does he have?" "How much money do they have? and NOT

"How much money does he has?"

but yet, we say,

"Which one of these presents can he has?"

or do we say

"Which one of these presents can he have?"

Does the word "can" change anything??


Please advise

Thank you

[5jj]

I'll start with a couple of points:

This sentence or rather question:- "Which of the following is the amount of money he can possibly have?" is I know is grammatically wrong.

What makes you think it is grammatically wrong?

Which/Who/What/Where/Why are one class of interrogatives different from "Does/Do/Did", right?

'Does/do;did' are not a 'class of interrogatives'. DO is an auxiliary verb used in forming questions where no other auxiliary verb is appropriate.

"How much money does he have?" "How much money do they have? and NOT "How much money does he has?" That is correct.

but yet, we say, "Which one of these presents can he has?" No, we don't.

or do we say, "Which one of these presents can he have?"

Does the word "can" change anything?

The auxiliary DO, and the modal auxiliaries can, could, may, might, must, shall, should, will, would, are all followed by a bare infinitive.

[TheParser]

[QUOTE=aaronhee;811909]



This sentence or rather question:-

"Which of the following is the amount of money he can possibly have?"


NOT A TEACHER


(1) As the teacher said, this sentence seems to be correct.

(2) I find that if I simplify a sentence, it is easier to analyze. Let's try it.

(3) Which (of the following) is the amount (of money) he can (possibly) have?

(a) Which is the amount he can have?

Which = subject.

is = linking verb (copula).

the amount (that) he can have. (subject complement)

(i) "that he can have" is an adjective (relative) clause modifying "amount."

(4) Now let's simplify further:

Which is the amount?

(5) Do these sentences sound correct to you:

(a) Which of the following is the amount of ice cream that he can possibly eat?

(b) Which of the following is the number of hamburgers that she can possibly cook?

(c) Which of the following is the number of Chinese characters that a student of the Chinese language should know?

(6) If you still have questions about this sentence, please ask here. One of the

excellent teachers will be sure to clear up any confusion.