
16-Jan-2008, 18:25
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 | Member | | Join Date: Aug 2007
Posts: 215
Home Country: Russian Federation Native Language: Russian Current Location: Russian Federation Member Type: Student or Learner | |
Re: Why should "be" be here? I can't catch your question. Sometimes interrogative pronoun serves as the subject of a question. And in this case we use direct word order. A conjunctive pronoun may also serve as the subject of a subordinate clause. What would be your last meal? What would you like to drink? Subject, predicate, object.
Your exapmles are Ok concerning the subject. But grammatically - Who is Ricky? And I failed to imagine this question in a real situation. I suppose it is not used. Who is he? is a question agout the name of a person. What is he? - rather old fashioned, nevertheless it is about the occupation. What is the last name of Ricky?
If you want some rule, you can review the topic "Special questions" in any textbook. Unfortunately I don't have such a textbook in English at hand. Otherwise I could send it to you.
Michael |