0

"Can you provide me more information why this conclusion is valid?"

"I have no idea why he called."

(1) Are these why-clauses relative clauses?

(2) Is "why" a relative adverb or a relative pronoun here?

(3) I have found "the reason why" (though it's redundant). But can "why" be placed after other nouns as in the above examples?

Community
  • 1
Sandip Kumar Mandal
  • 320
  • 4
  • 13
  • Does this answer question 1? fused relatives versus interrogatives; and question 2; relative adverb, conjunction, or both?. (3)One question at a time, please. You can check Google Ngrams etc for occurrences of potential strings 'the explanation why', 'information why'. I'd say your first sentence is at best borderline acceptable. I'd use 'as to why' or 'regarding why this conclusion is considered invalid'. – Edwin Ashworth May 07 '20 at 11:54
  • The adverb "why" does not occur in relative clauses, other than in integrated relatives with "reason" as antecedent. Elsewhere it can occur in main clause interrogatives and in subordinate interrogatives (embedded questions) as in your example "I've no idea [why he called]" where the meaning is: "I've no idea of the answer to the question 'Why did he call?'" – BillJ May 07 '20 at 15:43

0 Answers0