[Grammar] How come you always want to do something good for others?

[Peter Petrov]

Hi all. In this video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sqxnaktzTAw

There is following sentence:
How come you always want to do something good for others?

It's Present Simple Tense.

Why it isn't -> How come do you always want to do something good for others?

Thanks.

 

[teechar]

Re: Question for Qusetion in PS

That's a good question. The answer is: "how come" is informal, and we do not use an auxiliary after it. Think of it as already having an auxiliary built into it.

 

[Rover_KE]

Please note that I have changed your thread title.

Extract from the Posting Guidelines:

'Thread titles should include all or part of the word/phrase being discussed.'

 

[jutfrank]

You can think of How come as substituting for Why is it that.

 

[Enchanter]

I'm not a native speaker but I think the explanation is simple:

How come is a direct question which needs to be followed by an indirect question, which uses the word order of a declaratory sentence. Indirect question is best illustrated by an example:
Could you tell me why you like cars? The part in bold is an indirect question. The underlined portion is a direct question.

 

[Rover_KE]

Enchanter, please read this extract from the forum Posting Guidelines:


You are welcome to answer questions posted in the Ask a Teacher forum as long as your suggestions, help, and advice reflect a good understanding of the English language.

If you are not a teacher, you will need to state that clearly in your post.

 

[Enchanter]

Enchanter, please read this extract from the forum Posting Guidelines:


You are welcome to answer questions posted in the Ask a Teacher forum as long as your suggestions, help, and advice reflect a good understanding of the English language.

If you are not a teacher, you will need to state that clearly in your post.

I actually am an English teacher and I stated at the top of my post that I am not a native speaker. So I'm not sure what your problem is.

 

[jutfrank]

I'm not a native speak but I think the explanation is simple:

How come is a direct question which needs to be followed by an indirect question, which uses the word order of a declaratory sentence. Indirect question is best illustrated by an example:
Could you tell me why you like cars? The part in bold is an indirect question. The underlined portion is a direct question.

That's not right.

You can't say How come why you like cars?

 

[Enchanter]

That's not right.

You can't say How come why you like cars?

Of course, but I didn't say that. Read my post again, perhaps, to understand why and how I used the example. It was used to illustrate what indirect question is and that is uses special word order. And I also said I think it is a indirect question after how come. That means that I wasn't sure and it was just my hypothesis and also, of course, that I might be wrong.

 

[Rover_KE]

I actually am an English teacher and I stated at the top of my post that I am not a native speaker. So I'm not sure what your problem is.

If you are an English teacher, describing yourself as 'Other' is misleading.

 

[jutfrank]

Could you tell me why you like cars? The part in bold is an indirect question. The underlined portion is a direct question.

That's not right. There's just one (indirect) question here.

Like I said above, How come is equivalent grammatically to Why is it that, so you can follow with a clause using the normal declarative word order.

 

[Peter Petrov]

I actually am an English teacher and I stated at the top of my post that I am not a native speaker. So I'm not sure what your problem is.

I actually am an English teacher or I am actually an English teacher.

What ot these sententences is correct? I think the second one.

 

[emsr2d2]

I actually am an English teacher and I stated at the top of my post that I am not a native speaker. So I'm not sure what your problem is.

I suggest, in that case, that you edit your Member Profile so that it shows "English Teacher" instead of "Other".

 

[jutfrank]

I actually am an English teacher or I am actually an English teacher.

What ot these sententences is correct? I think the second one.

Actually, I am an English teacher.
I am in fact an English teacher.

 

[GoesStation]

I actually am an English teacher or I am actually an English teacher.

[STRIKE]What ot[/STRIKE] Which one of these sentences is correct? I think the second one.

They are both correct, but Jutfrank's proposed sentences are more typical.