Search results for 'tag:Direct questions tag:Indirect questions' matching tags 'Direct questions' and 'Indirect questions'

Re: correct/incorrect

Newguest — Thu, 09 Oct 2008 18:18:28 GMT

Ok, I get it, but now I have another question.

2 and 4 (indirect questions, I suppose) are incorrect because I wrote: "what are" and "what is," however, 5 is correct although I wrote "what is"????

Why not: I do not know what so strange about it is.

Tell me who is the winner

Lcwang — Tue, 30 Sep 2008 13:46:25 GMT

In a indirect question, we have verb follow the subject of the noun clause. Such as: I don't know who she is. But quite often we see sentence like:

Can anyone tell me who is the winner?

Is that a mistake, or is it also acceptable?

Please advise. Thanks a lot.

Question 'why?' in indirect questions.

pablo_ivher — Sun, 07 Sep 2008 16:32:49 GMT

Hello all,

I wonder if you could help me,
I made this exercise for my students

Transform the next question to indirect question

Why are you wearing pants?

The answer was:

Could you tell me why you wearing pants are?

I that answer correct? if not, Which is it?

I appreciate your attention

Regards,

Pablo :)

Re: ..why do I have vs ..why I have

EagerSeeker — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 16:43:25 GMT

Tanit

Hi,

As Goodman says, only the first one is correct,
From your post and your examples, I understand you've got Swann's book, right?
So, may I suggest another approach to clear your doubt?
That's an indirect question.
If you've got the same edition as me (the 3rd), have a look at section 276, "Indirect speech: questions and answers":

In reported questions the subject normally comes before the verb in standard English, and auxiliary do is not used.
- DIRECT: Where's Alice?
- INDIRECT: I asked where Alice was. (NOT ... ~~where was Alice~~.)
...
- DIRECT: What do I need?
- INDIRECT: She asked what she needed. (NOT ... ~~what did she need~~.)
...

If we try and use the same approach:

- DIRECT: Why do I have two cars?
- INDIRECT: You may wonder why I have two cars. (NOT ... ~~why do I have two cars~~.)

Yes, you are absolutely right! It is indeed indirect speech (I realized it later after reading more) and then we don't use auxiliary "do" in indirect questions.
But I found this to be a tricky one. Yes, I have Swan's book but he doesn't mention that we can use auxiliary do in indirect speech when the sentence
is negative.

I found this from my Finnish-English grammar book: "Auxiliary do is not used in indirect questions except in negative sentences".
Example: "Philip asked why children didn't read anymore."

So on the basis of what has been said so far I would find these examples correct:

"You may wonder why I have two cars."
"You may wonder why I don't have two cars." (negative sentence)
"You may wonder why I do have two cars." (emphatic sentence)

That emphasis is a nice suggestion from you guys!

Re: ..why do I have vs ..why I have

Tanit — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 19:47:12 GMT

"You may wonder why I have two cars."
"You may wonder why do I have two cars."

Hi,

As Goodman says, only the first one is correct,
From your post and your examples, I understand you've got Swann's book, right?
So, may I suggest another approach to clear your doubt?
That's an indirect question.
If you've got the same edition as me (the 3rd), have a look at section 276, "Indirect speech: questions and answers":

In reported questions the subject normally comes before the verb in standard English, and auxiliary do is not used.
- DIRECT: Where's Alice?
- INDIRECT: I asked where Alice was. (NOT ... ~~where was Alice~~.)
...
- DIRECT: What do I need?
- INDIRECT: She asked what she needed. (NOT ... ~~what did she need~~.)
...

If we try and use the same approach:

- DIRECT: Why do I have two cars?
- INDIRECT: You may wonder why I have two cars. (NOT ... ~~why do I have two cars~~.)

Direct questions to indirect questions

HanJH — Sun, 17 Aug 2008 05:25:43 GMT

Hello,

In changing direct questions to indirect questions:

Q1: She asked him who had tekephoned?
Which one is correct?
A1-1: "Who did telephone?" she asked him.
A1-2: "Who telephoned? she asked him.

Q2: He asked her where she had worked before?
Which one is correct?
A2-1: Where did you work before?" he asked her.
A2-2: Where have you worked before? he asked her.

Thank you in advance.

Re: If you (will)

CalifJim — Mon, 07 Jul 2008 17:13:12 GMT

Mr Wordy
I realised later that this is a rubbish explanation for why "will" is natural here.

OK. So let's move on and tell the real reason why will is natural here!

see who is there.

see what can be done

see how it's done

see where they put the keys

see whether they will give me a refund

see if they'll give me a refund

When an if-clause is an indirect question (and therefore if is replaceable by whether), it's nominal in nature, and can easily take will, or not, as desired.

I don't know [if / whether] George will be on time. / I wonder [if / whether] they will remember to bring the salads. / ...

In the conditional patterns, the if-clause has a different (adverbial) nature, and doesn't take will

If they (*will) give me a refund, I'll spend it on a new shirt. (* = ungrammatical)

-- unless there is emphasis on some benefit to the speaker or listener or both, as in bargaining. In other words, the idea of willingness is usually present in these odd-ball if ... will ... clauses.

If you will cook the meal, I will wash the dishes.

Re: what

CalifJim — Fri, 04 Jul 2008 02:23:49 GMT

This one leans much more toward that which.

I work this out by substituting other indirect questions like whether It is permitted. If a large range of indirect questions doesn't work, I suspect that only that which is the correct interpretation.

a description of whether it is permitted doesn't work for my ear, so I think that which is probably a better characterization in that case.

learn whether it is permitted does work for me, as well as learn that which is permitted, so there I see a greater possibility for ambiguity.

The verbs of knowing, finding out, and learning tend to be followed by indirect questions, so when these are followed by what, where, whether, how, etc., I am suspicious that an indirect question is a possible interpretation, along with the that which interpretation, thereby creating the ambiguity you called attention to in your original post.

Re: functionality of would and could in the present and past

CalifJim — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 04:00:01 GMT

Anonymous
but don't have the same level of understanding as to the use of 'could' as conditional.

That's fairly easy to explain. The conditional meaning of could includes would:

I could go to the movie if I had enough money. = I would be able to go to the movie if I had enough money.

Could you do me a favor? = Would you be able to do me a favor?

Cheat on an exam? I could never do that! = Cheat on an exam? I would never be able to do that!

_______

to wonder introduces an indirect question, so these are not if ..., (then) ... structures:

I wonder [if / whether] I [can / could / would be able to] go to see a movie.

I wonder what I [can / could / would be able to] do to get the promotion.

I wonder what I [will / would] have to do to get the promotion.

However, you can add an if-clause within the scope of the indirect question:

I wonder what I {will / would} have to do if I {want / wanted} the promotion.

I wonder what I {can / could} do if I {want / wanted} the promotion.

I wonder [if / whether] I {can / could} buy a house like that if I {save / saved} my money for a few years.

{ } indicates correlated choices. (The first choice goes with the first choice; the second choice goes with the second choice.)

Re: Let's see who finishes/will finish first.

CalifJim — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 19:03:49 GMT

Only one s in present!!!

You can't use will with the stative verbs in this construction: [Let's see / Let me know / Tell me] plus an indirect question. I would not call these relative clauses.

to finish first - an action.

how you are - a state - not an action.

get there first - same as arrive first - an action.

you think - an internal activity; having an opinion - not an action.

_______

Thus, with the indirect question in brackets { }, ungrammatical choices prefixed with asterisk *:

[Let's see / Let me know / Tell me] {who [finishes / will finish / gets there / will get there] first}.

[Let's see / Let me know / Tell me] {how [you are / *you will be / what you think / *what you will think]}

_______

Your example with make sure does not belong to the pattern above. There's no indirect question.

Make sure (that) you come back soon.

A make sure that pattern is not followed by a future (will).

______

You can save yourself a lot of headaches by using the present tense for all of these. Even in cases where will is possible, it's almost always the inferior choice.