Learn English – “The question is what are the chances are to do smth.” VS “The question is what the chances to do smth.” Which is correct

questionssentence-constructionword-order

Could anyone please help me? I'm not sure which sentence is correct to write:

"The question is what are my chances to break even"

or

"The question is what my chances to break even are"

Best Answer

In the first case there's a comma missing, in the second case you put a linking verb at the end of a sentence. The latter is not incorrect but it sounds forced and it's unnecessary. As William Safire wrote "If any word is improper at the end of a sentence, a linking verb is."
I'd recommend the forms

The question is what my chances are to break even.
The question is, what are my chances to break even?

The first is a statement, the second is a question. Of course if you want to go with

The question is what my chances to break even are.

you can, it is technically correct and formal.
Now, in the second case the sentence fragment "what are my chances to break even" is a question in itself, so using it with "The question is" is informal, especially in writing, and it may be considered incorrect by some. It's fine most of the time, especially in the US, but if you want to go formal for certain, I'd recommend breaking it into a statement and a question, something like

The question is simple. What are my chances to break even?

You can also use a colon

The question is simple: What are my chances to break even?

But be careful with that, you can't use a colon after an incomplete sentence, so

The question is: What are my chances to break even?

is incorrect, although in speech there's no difference between this and my second recommended sentence.

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