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Guest

#107806 Sun, 12 Jun 05 04:37 AM

Should the sentence "Let me know when will you go there" be terminated with a question mark (?) or should it be terminated with a period (.)? I'm getting confused because though the sentence is asking a question, it begins with 'Let me know' after which only the question starts!

I guess many might find my question childish but then what can one expect from a chld Smile [:)]

Thank you very much.

Warm Regards.

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East or West. this Guest is the BEST Smile [:)]

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Guest

Regards, Question marks, Warm regards

LanguageLover

#107945 Sun, 12 Jun 05 02:10 PM

It's not a childish question, Guest.
Let me know when you will go there.
Notice that the word order also shouldn't be in a questioning order.

LanguageLover

Joined on Fri, Feb 25 2005

A proud Iranian living in the UAE

Contributing Member (1,393)

The similarities among the languages are more than their differences!

Word order

pieanne

#107973 Sun, 12 Jun 05 03:39 PM

Exactly.
Direct speech: "When will you go there?": it is a question > ?, and word order for a question.
Reported speech: "Tell me/let me know when you will go there.": it's not a question, > no ?, and normal word order.

But I wonder if, in this case, it wouldn't be better to say: "Let me know when you go there"; I don't like "when" & "will" together in an affirmative sentence...

pieanne

Joined on Thu, Jan 20 2005

South of France ...But I'm Belgian!

Veteran Member (7,512)

I'm glad to help, but I'm not a native! And please excuse my typos...

Affirmative sentences, Word order, Direct speech

LanguageLover

#107977 Sun, 12 Jun 05 03:45 PM

Yup, Pieanne is right. Will is not used in this structure.

LanguageLover

Miche

#107978 Sun, 12 Jun 05 03:47 PM

I was thinking about that too, Pieanne. However, I believe there is a difference between the two. If we say "Let me know when you go (=get) there", the person will be expected to tell us he has already arrived there. If the person is only expected to tell us when he is going/plans to go there, then I think "Let me know when you are going there" is OK. As for the "will" part, I always get confused about simple future but I guess it will fit too.

Miche

Joined on Fri, Jan 7 2005

Full Member (258)

There's always sunshine after rain

Difference between

pieanne

#107994 Sun, 12 Jun 05 04:13 PM

Hi, Miche,
I feel a difference between "go" & "get"
To me, "when you get there" is clearly "when you have arrived there".
"When you go there" is more "when you intend to go there", or "whenever you go there"

As to the "will" part, I'm aware there's a difference between the reported speech and any other sentence. You can't say "*He'll phone me when he will arrive". It's "he'll phone me when he arrives", the future of the main clause extends to the when-clause.
But in the example, there's no future in the main clause, so maybe "Tell me when you will get there" is OK, but I think the formulation will be different. "tell me when you are going there/when you go there/when you mean to go there,..."
Must depend on the context.

pieanne

Difference between, Clauses