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Indirect Questions

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29 views

Indirect Questions

Uploaded by

stepanka.fantova
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as PPSX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Direct (always ending with ”?

“)
and indirect questions

1
Direct questions (1): Yes/No questions
 They begin with an auxiliary verb.
 We answer them using short answers (yes or no and an auxiliary
verb).
 The word order is:
AV(auxiliary verb) S (subject) FV (full verb) (the rest) ?
 Example:
 Do you live here? Will Tom be here tomorrow? Are they happy
together? Didn’t you hear the bell? Isn’t it a beautiful day? 2
Direct questions (2): Wh- questions
 They begin with a question wh- word.
 We can answer them using a whole sentence or a piece of information.
 The word order is:

Wh-word AV(auxiliary verb) S (subject) FV (full verb) (the rest) ?


 Example:
 What do you do? What kind of books do you like most? Who are your waiting for? Who
prepared the meal? Which bus goes to the city centre? Whose book is this? How many
brothers does she have? How much is it? How often do you play the piano? How tall are
you? Where do you come from? Where has he moved? When were you born? What time3
do they get up? Why didn’t you come yesterday?
Wh- questions with a preposition at
the end
 Many verbs need a preposition (e.g. talk to, dance with, look
at, look for, depend on, ask for).
 In questions, we put the preposition at the end:
 Who did she dance with?
 What are you looking at?

4
Indirect questions (1)
 They have the same word order as the statement con
unc
j
t
(positive/affirmative sentence) and e st there is NO auxiliary
verb
i on verb
qu n sub for
(unless it is a part of a regular verb
io d form).
or jec t yes/
w no
v e rb
que sub
 Example: stio j ect
ns
 Where does Tom live?  I wonder where Tom lives.
 Did she meet her mother?  Do you know if/whether she met
her mother?

5
Indirect questions (2)
 Indirect questions are more polite.
 We usually use the following expressions to start indirect
questions:
I wonder, I was wondering, I’ve no idea, I can’t remember, I’d like
to know, I’m not sure, Could you tell me, Do you know, Do you
happen to know, Have you any idea, May/Could I ask, I‘d be
interested to know, Do you remember, I’d like to ask, I don’t know

6
Rewrite the direct questions into indirect ones.
(See the solution on the next slide.)
1) What does this word mean?
2) What time is it?
3) Did you speak to them?
4) How often does she visit you?
5) Were you born here?
6) Has she ever ridden a motorbike?
7) How far is the city centre from here?
8) Could you help us, please?
7

9) Who are you waiting for?


The solution:

1) Could you tell me what this word means?


2) I’d like to know what time it is.
3) I can’t remember if/whether you spoke to them.
4) Do you know how often she visits you?
5) I’d like to ask if/whether you were born here.
6) I’m not sure if/whether she has ever ridden a motorbike.
7) I wonder how far the city centre is from here.
8) Could you tell me if/whether you could help us? 8

9) Could I know who you are waiting for?

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