there are three acceptable ways to make a clause that begins with "what".
1) you can have "what" + verb (+ possibly other words), as you've noted. in this case, "what" is the subject of the verb:
i don't know what happened last night
OR
2) you can have "what" + subject + verb (+ possibly other words). in this case, "what" is the object of the verb:
i don't know what my brother said when i was gone
i saw what the kids did to the house (--> this one looks sort of like the construction in choice (e), but notice that they are actually completely different)
OR
3) you can have "what" + noun. (in this case i'm not exactly sure what part of speech "what" counts as, but it seems to play a role closest to that of an adjective)
i don't know what effects the oil spill will have on the environment
this is probably the construction that is closest to the incorrect one in choice (e), but notice that in this case it is absolutely not ok to insert "the" between "what" and the noun.
1) you can have "what" + verb (+ possibly other words), as you've noted. in this case, "what" is the subject of the verb:
i don't know what happened last night
OR
2) you can have "what" + subject + verb (+ possibly other words). in this case, "what" is the object of the verb:
i don't know what my brother said when i was gone
i saw what the kids did to the house (--> this one looks sort of like the construction in choice (e), but notice that they are actually completely different)
OR
3) you can have "what" + noun. (in this case i'm not exactly sure what part of speech "what" counts as, but it seems to play a role closest to that of an adjective)
i don't know what effects the oil spill will have on the environment
this is probably the construction that is closest to the incorrect one in choice (e), but notice that in this case it is absolutely not ok to insert "the" between "what" and the noun.
