Unit 5: indirect questions on the page 70

With exercises

Rules
Grammar rules with examples If we want to make questions in the English

language, we can do it by changing the word order (Is he your brother? Was she there? Have you been to Ireland?) or by using the auxiliary do (Do you know them? Does he live with you? Did you enjoy it?). The indirect questions are not normal questions. They have the same word order as statements and we do not use do to form a question. They usually come after introductory phrases combined with interrogative pronouns and adjectives (who, whom, what, which, whose), adverbs (when, where, how, why)or if, whether.

Rules
Compare the following direct and indirect

questions: Direct: What did she want? - Indirect: Do you know what she wanted? Direct: Where was it? - Indirect: Do you remember where it was? Direct: Will they come? - Indirect: I wonder if they will come.

Indirect questions
We can use many other introductory phrases to

start such questions, e. g. I ask, I wonder, I want/would like to know, I can't remember, I have no idea, I am sure etc. or they can be intruduced by direct questions such as Can you tell me, Do you know, Do you remember, Have you any idea etc. Look at more examples to understand how we change the direct questions: How much is it? - I'd like to know how much it is. Is this seat free? - He is asking if this seat is free. Where did she go? - Have you any idea where she went? Does he want to buy it? - Do you know whether

Indirect questions
These questions are more common in English

than in some other languages. They are more polite and more formal than the direct questions. Compare the following examples of the direct indirect questions. Why did you do it? - Could you tell me why you did it? Could I use your telephone? - Do you think I could use your telephone? Are you married? - I wonder if you are married.

Why did she cry? - I don't really know_____________ . Does she speak Greek? - I will ask her______________ . Where is Joe? - I have no idea_____________ . I'd like to know what time_________ . - The show starts at 8 o'clock. Is he all right? - I do not know_____________ . What did he want? - I'm afraid I can't tell you . Do you know who___________ ? - Yes, Jim Harrison is a writer. Whose car was it? - I'm not quite sure___________ .I s this the right train? - Let's ask someone_____________ . I wonder when______________ . But they've already got married! How long has she known him? - Well, I'd like to know myself . How much is this scarf? - Why do you want to know_____ ? Can you tell me what____________ ? - Her name is Maggie. Do they have any free tickets? - Let's have a look____________ . Do you remember where________________ ? - The boxes were in the garage. Which countries did she visit_________________ ? - To tell the truth, I haven't found out yet .

 POLITE INDIRECT QUESTIONS Remember that direct questions are often

considered rude when speaking to strangers. To sound more polite we often use indirect questions. Indirect questions serve the same purpose as direct ones, but are considered more formal. In this presentation you will learn how to make an indirect question and different ways for asking sounding more polite. You will use: Could you tell me .....? I wonder ili I was wondering.... Would you mind telling me........?