Hi folks.

I myself see nothing wrong with this sentance.

"I am trying to solve why the clouds are so dark"

To me, this is as proper English grammar, as it can be.
But I got one stubern person why tryes to proove me wrong.

So, can anybody help here.
Thank you

Maybe he wants you to say: I'm trying to find out as why the clouds are so dark"

In any case, i think MikeJ will help you better with that.

The problem with the sentence is the use of why and solve. The purpose of sentence need to be redefined, what do you want to do, solve the darkness of the clouds or find out why they are so dark?

"clouds are so dark" was just an example.

It's if you can say "..trying to solve why..."

Examples:

"...I'm trying to solve why my computer is running so slow.."

I think you should say "I am trying to find out why my computer is so slow" in that case. Solve is only used for things like "I will solve this equation on my exam". You can solve a question or a problem but not why the clouds are dark.

So "trying to solve why..." is not proper english as far as I know (but then again I'm not an expert).

Yep, the problem is in word solve which in this context cannot be used...

No you can't.

Why = You want to investigate the cause of the problem.

Solve = You want to find a solution to the problem, and in the process you'll find out the cause as well.

So using both words in that specific manner makes the sentence ambiguous. It's best to only use either words unless you want to rephrase it into a longer sentence.

Ι agree with the others.

You solve a problem or a mathematical equation.

Instead of solve you should use "find out" , or "understand" or something like that.

Interesting topic...i actually learned a new thing

You can use a dependent clause as the object of solve, which means that the sentence in bold is grammatically correct, if unusual.