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Indirect Questions
(#1)
"Normal" yes / no
and information ("Wh'") questions follow
the word-order rules
presented in recent Hints. There are
other English question forms that
follow different rules,
however. They're called indirect
questions.
There are two types of indirect
questions. One
occurs in
reported (indirect)
speech--when one person tells what
another person has
said.
Three things happen in reported-speech
questions:
| 1. |
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The word order is like statement
word order,
not
like "normal" question word
order. |
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| 2. |
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The
verb tense in the question may be changed
(if the main verb
in the sentence is a past tense). |
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| 3. |
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Verbs
like "asked" are used to introduce reported
(indirect)
questions. |
Examples:
He said, "Where's Bob?"
--->
He
asked where Bob was.
Did he ask, "Where's
Bob?"
--->
Did he ask where Bob was?.
He said, "Where does
Bob
live?" --->
He asked where Bob lived.
Did he say, "Where does
Bob live?" --->
Did he ask where Bob lived?
He said, "Where has Bob
gone?" --->
He asked where Bob had gone.
Did he say, "Where has
Bob gone?" --->
Did he ask where Bob had gone?
He said, "How long has
Bob been away?" --->
He asked how long Bob had been
away.
Did
he say, "How long
has Bob been away?"
--->
Did he ask how long Bob had been away?
He said, "Is Bob at
home?"--->
He asked if Bob was
at
home.
Did
he say, "Is Bob at
home?"--->
Did he ask
if Bob was at home?
He said, "Have they seen
Bob?"--->
He asked if they had seen Bob.
Did he say, "Have they
seen Bob?"--->
Did he ask if they had seen Bob?
He said, "Will Bob be
at home soon?"--->
He asked if Bob would be at
home soon.
Did he say, "Will Bob
be at home
soon?"--->
Did he ask if Bob would be at home soon?
He said, "Can someone
give Bob a message for me?"--->
He asked if someone could give Bob
a message from him.
____________________________________________
Special Notes:
| 1. |
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Notice that the questions
inside statements
and questions above do not
use normal
word
order for questions. Instead, they use
the word order for statements:
|
this:
not this:
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He asked where Bob was.
*He asked where was Bob.
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this:
not this:
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He asked where Bob lived.
*He asked where did Bob
live.
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this:
not
this:
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He asked how long Bob had
been away.
*He asked how long had
Bob
been away.
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| 2. |
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Notice the change in verb
tenses when
the
main
verb is past:
He said, "Where's (is) Bob?" --->
He asked where Bob
was.
He said, "Where does Bob live?" --->
He
asked where Bob lived.
He said, "Will Bob be at home soon?"--->
He asked if Bob
would be at home soon.
When the tense in the reported
question (or
statement)
is present, it's sometimes
confusing
to change the tense. When this happens,
the
present-tense
verb (in the reported
question or
statement) is often not
changed:
He said, "Where's (is) Bob?" --->
He asked where Bob
is.
He said, "Where does Bob live?" --->
He
asked where Bob lives.
He said, "How old is Bob?" --->
He asked how old Bob
is.
He said, "How's (is) Bob doing?" --->
He asked how Bob is doing.
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| 3. |
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Notice that for reported yes
/ no
questions,
if
is used to introduce the question. Reported
yes /
no questions may also be introduced
by
whether
(or not):
He said, "Is Bob at home?"--->
He asked
if Bob was at home. /
He asked
whether Bob was at home. /
He
asked whether or not Bob was at home. /
He asked
whether Bob was at home or not
He said, "Will Bob be
at home soon?"--->
He asked
if Bob would be at home soon. /
He asked
whether Bob would be at home soon. /
He asked whether or
not Bob would be at
home soon. /
He
asked whether
Bob would be
at home soon
or not.
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| 4. |
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There may also be other changes
in
reported
questions.
One common change is with
pronouns:
He said, "Do you know Bob?" --->
He asked if I
knew (know) Bob.
/
He asked if we knew (know) Bob.
He said, "Does Bob get
along with you?" --->
He asked if Bob was (is) friendly
with me. /
He asked if if Bob was (is) friendly with
us.
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| 5. |
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Notice that a question mark
( ? ) is not
used if
the main sentence is not a question:
|
this:
not this:
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He asked where Bob was.
*He asked where Bob was?.
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this:
not this:
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He asked where Bob lived.
*He asked where Bob lived?
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this:
not
this:
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He asked how long Bob had
been away.
*He asked how long Bob
had
been away?
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Questions using the forms
shown in the "not this"
examples, above, are often heard in
everyday
conversation,
but they actually mean
questions:
He asked where Bob was? =
Did he ask
where
Bob was?
He asked where Bob lived?
= Did he ask where
Bob lived?
He asked how long Bob had
been away? =
Did
he ask how long Bob had been
away?
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