Why was it broken vs Why it was broken

Both phrases are correct, but they are used in different contexts. 'Why was it broken?' is a question where 'was' is the auxiliary verb and 'it' is the subject. 'Why it was broken' is a noun clause that can be used as a subject or object in a sentence.

Last updated: March 20, 2024 • 3483 views

Why was it broken

This phrase is correct and commonly used in English.

This phrase is used as a question to inquire about the reason something was broken. 'Was' is the auxiliary verb, 'it' is the subject, and 'broken' is the past participle of the verb 'break.'

Examples:

Why was it broken in the first place?
I wonder why was it broken so easily.
Can you explain why was it broken?
Do you know why was it broken?
Why was it broken beyond repair?

Show examples from the web [+]

Apr 9, 2012 ... But why was it broken? “Over the last two years he was there,” one former player said, “the players had taken complete control of the team.”.
Why was it broken? How was it broken? My friend, it was broken before the battle .' 'Oh!' said his friend, with a sort of forlorn jocularity; 'and pray where is the ...
Why was it broken? How was it broken? My friend, it was broken before the battle .” “Oh!” said his friend, with a sort of forlorn jocularity; “and pray where is the ...
Aug 19, 2014 ... ... and 1 year warranties on new Macs. But … it's refurbished. What was wrong with it? Why was it broken to begin with? Will it break again?

Alternatives:

Why did it break?
What caused it to break?
How did it get broken?
What led to its breakage?
What made it break?

Why it was broken

This phrase is correct but less commonly used in English.

This phrase is a noun clause that can function as a subject or object in a sentence. It provides information about the reason for something being broken.

Show examples from the web [+]

Jun 4, 2014 ... ... all we have to know is that the law is effectual regardless of reason why it was broken. It just makes it worse that Obama broke Obama's law.
Aug 22, 2014 ... We had to rollback and it took a few hours to figure out why it was broken and how this happened could happen since we did not change ...
... wondered why the middle matzah and not the other two were broken, and why it was broken into two uneven parts with the larger part saved for the afikoman.
Aug 17, 2014 ... From the transcript here, there was this bit of dialogue about why it was broken in the first place: ADRIC: So the chameleon circuit's stuck?

Alternatives:

The reason why it was broken
The cause of it being broken
The explanation for it being broken
The fact that it was broken
The incident of it being broken

What Our Customers Are Saying

Our customers love us! We have an average rating of 4.79 stars based on 283,125 votes.
Also check out our 2,100+ reviews on TrustPilot (4.9).

"Thank you!"
Sachi Nakama July 2024
"I have literally been through chat, PI, claude, bard and bing and I got conflicting answers! Thank you! Human intelligence reigns!"
Retha July 2024
"Faster than AI"
CYNTHIA December 2023
"This was very helpful and I personally think this site is the best."
Kaden October 2023
"It was extremely thorough and very helpful!"
imperialelisa October 2023
"7 years without any disappointment. Always 100% satisfied. You guys are the best in the world at what you do. Thank you so much :)"
Zubair Alam October 2023
"In a world of text messages and online communication, this is great to have as a live tool. Thank you."
Selena October 2023
"Without textranch I would be stuck!"
宏祐 October 2023
"Accuracy and fast response. Personal comments from editor. Thank you."
Clh September 2023
"I wasn't aware of this service, it's fascinating and more reliable than standard IA tools available on the internet"
Arturo September 2023
"The fact that you can get reliable fast feedback on your texts."
Vinicius Antonio August 2023
"you guys are better than grammarly i'm being honest here"
ordinary July 2023
"OMG! This is really good than any other text correction tools I've used so far. Highly recommend this."
Vehan July 2023
"Very fast and accurate. thank you."
mojtaba July 2023
"I love this app because it's help to writing skills all of students ♥️"
Tarisini July 2023
"This was exactly the mistake I was looking for, the wording dind´t sound right at first. Better than grammarly!"
Ente July 2023
"The immediate help that I received was reassuring and very satisfactory. Thanks."
priiiyanshuu July 2023
"this helps A LOT for my studies."
kathnunez02 June 2023
"Woow!! I would never have expected such precision! Thank you soooo much!!"
Berta June 2023
"Real Time Editor and not AI. Many Thanks."
Priya June 2023
"The very first thing excites me about Textranch is how much your editors care."
sepideh June 2023
"The fact that texts are checked by human editors rather than by AI, etc. I appreciate this!"
Анна June 2023
"Feel welcome, immediate response, high quality feedback"
martin.roy June 2023
"This is the best app that I have ever seen"
Burulai May 2023

Why was it broken vs Why it was broken

Why was it broken

Why it was broken

Related Comparisons

What Our Customers Are Saying