Sentence Type
What is the difference between the two following sentences:
1. Why are you late?
2. Why you are late./?
Can sentence 2 be regarded as statement or question?
When are such sentences used?
1 answer 
Sentence #1 is a properly formed interrogative sentence (question).
Sentence #2 cannot be considered a properly formed sentence. It begins with the word "why" which is an interrogative pro-word, marking the beginning of a dependent clause or an interrogative sentence.
One of the things that English does to form questions is to invert the subject/verb pair (as in sentence #1). In the absence of that inversion, it's still a declarative sentence/clause. As #2 is written, there would have to be more to it in order to make it a properly formed sentence.
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answered Apr 03 '12 at 14:29
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