I thought I couldn't start a question using how to

[engee30]

It's not that you can't. It's that we don't usually say it, and we certainly don't write it.

[...] Non-sentences like "How to bake a cake?" do not have a finite verb [...]

Sometimes, the inner you takes over you and lets you go with the flow. ;-)

 

[Raymott]

Sometimes, the inner you takes over you and lets you go with the flow. ;-)

Indeed. If this were a psychology or psycholinguistics forum, further comment might be warranted.

 

[Charlie Bernstein]

It looks to me like another strange peculiarity of English grammar.

You can say something like this:
Why not ask her out? (general) or Why don't you ask her out? (specific)

You cannot say: How to reset a password? (general), but you can say: How [do you/shall I] reset a password?
Or you cannot say: What to do now? (general), but you can say: What [do I/you/we|shall I/we] do now?

In all of the cases above, it's a question word + infinitive construction. So what's the problem then? :-?

I don't know if it's peculiar to English, but in English you need a subject noun. "How to reset a password?" doesn't have one. "How do you reset a password?" does.

 

[engee30]

I don't know if it's peculiar to English, but in English you need a subject noun. "How to reset a password?" doesn't have one. "How do you reset a password?" does.

In Why tell lies?, there is no subject noun, yet it's correct to say and write like that.

 

[jutfrank]

engee30 - I agree it's a bit confusing.

There are two ways to understand what we mean by 'question'.

Why tell lies?
Really? Now?
He said what?
Want another?
And the point is?

These are all questions in terms of pragmatics but not in terms of grammar.

 

[PaulMatthews]

Oh, come on! The people who post questions here do not have perfect English. That's why they come here!

"How to" can only start a sentence if it's part of a noun phrase:

- How to speak English well is the topic of almost all the questions posted here.

But that's not a noun phrase; it's an interrogative complement clause. The sentence means "The answer to the question 'How does one speak English well?'" is the topic of almost all the questions posted here".

Interrogative complement clauses can function as subject, but it is comparatively rare.

 

[jutfrank]

The sentence means "The answer to the question 'How does one speak English well?'" is the topic of almost all the questions posted here".

Of course that's one way of understanding this. The phrase How to speak English well does not necessarily imply a question, just a way of doing.

I mean, if I make a video entitled How To Fix A Puncture, it's because I want to show a way to do it. There doesn't have to be a question first, does there?

 

[Charlie Bernstein]

In Why tell lies?, there is no subject noun, yet it's correct to say and write like that.

That's a great point.

This isn't a strong explanation, but it's the best I can do: In informal English, there are often unspoken words that are understood. For instance, "Thanks" is a sentence because we understand it to mean "You have my thanks."

Likewise, "Why tell lies?" can be taken to mean "Why should we tell lies?"

It's harder to find unspoken words that would complete "How to reset a password?"

Again, this is about informal English. In strictly formal English, neither "Thanks" nor "Why tell lies?" is likely to be used.

Hope that helps! (That's informal English for "I hope that helps!")

 

[engee30]

This isn't a strong explanation [...] :tick:

It's harder to find unspoken words that would complete "How to reset a password?"

How about 'How ought I to reset a password?' - looks and sounds great to me.

 

[Charlie Bernstein]

How about 'How ought I to reset a password?' - looks and sounds great to me.

It works! We'd be more likely to say something like:

- How do I reset a password?
- How can I reset a password?
- How do you reset passwords?
- How are passwords reset?
- What do you do to reset a password?
- How are passwords reset?
- How do passwords get reset?

It doesn't have to be a question, either. We might say:

- Tell me how to reset a password.
- Tell me how you reset passwords.

 

[engee30]

That's the thing, Charlie Bernstein - there is no rule you could go by and say that it is incorrect.

 

[Raymott]

In Why tell lies?, there is no subject noun, yet it's correct to say and write like that.

That's a different type of structure. All of the pseudo-questions we've been discussing include an infinitive.
"Why to tell lies?" is the equivalent. A native speaker would not say this.

 

[GoesStation]

That's a different type of structure. All of the pseudo-questions we've been discussing include an infinitive.
"Why to tell lies?" is the equivalent. A native speaker would not say this.

How come?

 

[PaulMatthews]

Of course that's one way of understanding this. The phrase How to speak English well does not necessarily imply a question, just a way of doing.

I mean, if I make a video entitled How To Fix A Puncture, it's because I want to show a way to do it. There doesn't have to be a question first, does there?

Yes, but that's an entirely different construction; it's not even a sentence - just a title or something similar. In the example I commented on, "How to speak English well" is a subordinate interrogative clause functioning as the subject of the sentence. It doesn't directly ask a question, but rather serves to express one. The main clause equivalent would be something like: How does one speak English well?

 

[PaulMatthews]

Here's another example of an infinitival interrogative clause beginning with "how" where this time it is the complement of a preposition:

Frequently readers request advice [on how to establish a good lawn].

That sentence means: "Frequently readers request advice on the answer to the question 'how does one establish a good lawn?'"

 

[jutfrank]

Yes, but that's an entirely different construction; it's not even a sentence - just a title or something similar. In the example I commented on, "How to speak English well" is a subordinate interrogative clause functioning as the subject of the sentence.

Okay. So if How To Fix A Puncture is not a sentence, it doesn't make sense to call it a clause. Is that right? If so, is there any way of describing it grammatically?

 

[PaulMatthews]

I don't think analysing titles is productive when trying to establish the rules of grammar. To me, that 'string' has the potential to be a subordinate infinitival clause in some larger and grammatically complete construction.

How would you describe it grammatically?

 

[Charlie Bernstein]

How come?

Because it doesn't make sense.

 

[Charlie Bernstein]

I don't think analysing titles is productive when trying to establish the rules of grammar. To me, that 'string' has the potential to be a subordinate infinitival clause in some larger and grammatically complete construction.

How would you describe it grammatically?

Right. That's what I said on the first page of the thread. To start a sentence that is a question, it can be a noun phrase.

But in the example the poster gave, it isn't. So it doesn't make sense.

Titles do not have to be sentences. But if a title has a question mark, that automatically makes it a sentence. But a sentence without a subject noun is incorrect.

So the title How to learn English is fine, but the title How to learn English? is not.

 

[PaulMatthews]

I'm losing track here of who said what and to whom!!

The only point I'm making is that in examples like How to speak English well is the topic of almost all the questions posted here, the subject "how to speak English" is not actually a noun phrase, but a subordinate interrogative clause.

In other words, subordinate non-finite clauses can be subjects.