Sentence Confusion

Question

Guys,

I have found this sometimes confusing in picking an answer choice (and in my spoken english). Which of these sentences is correct/better?

He wondered what the problem with Paul is.
He wondered what is the problem with Paul.

Thanks.

Supercat · Answer

In my opinion these are both gramatically correct, although a bit stilted:

 He wondered what the problem with Paul is.
 He wondered what is the problem with Paul.

And I don't think a GMAT question would hinge on such a subtle difference.

The first question does NOT suffer from ending with a preposition ( is  is a verb), although at first it sounds kind of like it. "Was" would probably be a better verb, in keeping the past tense; but "is" is defensible.

That said, a more natural way to say this sentence is:
 He wondered what was Paul's problem.

Folaa3 · Answer

they are both correct depending on how you use them

kapslock · Answer

Supercat, IMHO You changed it to mean "Problem of Paul" rather than "Paul as a problem"

When you say "what's the problem with you", it doesn't mean "tell me the nature of the problem that you have", but "why're you being a problem (to me)". On second reading, the above doesn't sound very convincing to myself, but I'd still ask you to give it a second thought

Supercat · Answer

Kapslock, I think you do kinda make a point, for the advanced class

But really, I think these are all ways various idiomatic ways of saying pretty much the same thing. After all, asking "What's his problem" is somehow qualitatively different than asking "What's his shoe size?" eh?

Sentence Confusion

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