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Which one is correct?

I don't know how could I help you.

or

I don't know how I could help you.

Equivalently,

I don't know how could you do this to me.

or

I don't know how you could do this to me.

It's not a question but it's of the form [I don't know argument] where the argument is a question?

Laurel
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Boolean
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  • No, it's not a question, and the thing you don't know isn't a question either, but a fact (how you can help them). – Kate Bunting Apr 25 '21 at 13:24
  • Note that all the examples are (a) negative and (b) claim the speaker's ignorance. Which is one pragmatic way of asking a question. Which is why this is a common construction. – John Lawler Apr 25 '21 at 15:15
  • "How I could" is for when you're not asking a question, meaning there'll be no question mark at the end. "How could I" is for when you are asking a question, meaning there generally will be a question mark at the end. Review how English uses inverted structures for asking questions, so instead of the standard structure of subject-verb, the structure inverts to become verb-subject. – Benjamin Harman Apr 25 '21 at 22:02

1 Answers1

2

*[1] I don't know [how could I help you].

[2] I don't know [how I could help you].

*[3] I don't know [how could you do this to me].

[4] I don't know [how you could do this to me].

[2] and [4] are fine. The bracketed elements are subordinate interrogative clauses (embedded questions) functioning as complement of the verb "know".

The meaning is "I don't know the answer to the question 'How could I help you?'" / "I don't know the answer to the question 'How could you do this to me?'"

Subordinate interrogatives don't normally have subject-auxiliary inversion, but [1] and [3] do, and hence they are not acceptable.

BillJ
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  • Is this what John Ross calls the penthouse principle?: embedded interrogative clauses are not amenable to inversion @BillJ? – user405662 Apr 26 '21 at 12:54
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    @user405662 Yes: we don't normally have inversion, but some varieties of English (mainly in the USA, I believe) allow subordinate interrogatives with inversion in contexts of strong question-orientation, as in "She asked what had he he done wrong" / "He wanted to know was she ill". – BillJ Apr 26 '21 at 13:31
  • Thank you, @BillJ! It may sound stupid to ask this but is this all there is to the penthouse principle? I mean why coin a fancy word for a special case of "non-inversion"? – user405662 Apr 26 '21 at 17:36
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    @user405662 link. – BillJ Apr 27 '21 at 08:10