What is the reason for this order 'Why there were not ...?

[learning54]

Hi teachers,
This is the statement, 'It was winter and the weather was cold, so there were not many people in the fields'.
This a possible question, if I'm not mistaken, 'Why there were not many people in the fields?
If yes, why the order is 'there were not'?

The usual order without 'not' is, Why were there ...?

Thanks in advance.

[Rover_KE]

Only 'Why were there not many people. . .?' is correct.

Rover

[learning54]

Only 'Why were there not many people. . .?' is correct.

Rover

Hi Rover,
Thank you for your reply. My mistake then.

Best,
L54

[learning54]

Hi Rover,
Thank you for your reply. My mistake then.

Best,
L54

Sorry one more question, Why don't we use 'not' immediately after 'were'?

[BobSmith]

I know that this is correct:

Why weren't there many people. . .?

but this sounds odd:

Why were not there many people. . .?

but I'll let a teacher explain why. (Although my guess is that it is grammatically correct, but just "not something we say".)

[emsr2d2]

Bob beat me to it but it's true that you would expect "Why weren't there ...?" to convert in the long version to "Why were not there ...?" but it just doesn't.

[learning54]

I know that this is correct:

Why weren't there many people. . .?

but this sounds odd:

Why were not there many people. . .?

but I'll let a teacher explain why. (Although my guess is that it is grammatically correct, but just "not something we say".)

Hi,
Thank you for your reply. It is one of those things that can't be explained.

Best,
L54

[BobK]

Hi Rover,
Thank you for your reply. My mistake then.

Best,
L54

Your 'mistake' may just have resulted from a confusion between direct and indirect speech:

'Why were there not many people there?'

But:

He wondered why there were not many people there. [Note: NO question mark; it's a statement - he wondered.]

b

[learning54]

Hi BobK,
Thank you for your comment and interest, but it wasn't because of it. I just thought it was the natural order for a question; 'not' after the verb.

Best,
L54