INDIRECT

QUESTIONS
QUESTION FORMS

1. Questions
Yes-No Questions
Information (Wh) Questions
2. Indirect Questions
Yes-No Questions
Information (Wh) Questions
YES/NO AND INFORMATION QUESTIONS

Do you have Are you a friend What would you Why were you
some time? of Jake’s? like to have for late for school?
(Yes-No) (Yes-No) breakfast? (Information)
(Information)
INDIRECT QUESTIONS

We use indirect questions to be more polite.

Rather than asking a question directly, we make the question softer and
more polite.
Example: Think about a person who wants to ask the time in the street.
Which way sounds more polite?
A) What the time is it? B) Can you tell me what time it is?
INDIRECT QUESTIONS

Here is a list of phrases you can use to start an indirect question.

Can you tell me….
I would like to know….
Do you know….
I wonder….
I am not sure…
 INDIRECT QUESTIONS
• Yes-No Questions
Yes-No questions do not have a question word (what, how, when etc.) Therefore, we need an extra word to use in
order to change a direct question into an indirect question. We can use ‘whether’ or ‘if’. After the question part,
we use the sentence order.

Direct Question: Is Mr. Smith available for a meeting now?

Sentence Order: Mr. Smith is available for a meeting now.

Indirect Question: Excuse me, do you know if/whether Mr. Smith is available for a meeting now?
 INDIRECT QUESTIONS
• Information (Wh) Questions
We use the question words when we change a direct question into an indirect
question. After the question part, we use the sentence order.

Direct Question: How can I go to the library?

Sentence Order: I can go to the library.
Indirect Question: Can you tell me how I can go to the library?
 INDIRECT QUESTIONS
• We do not use the auxiliary verbs in the sentence order in POSITIVE form.

Direct Question: Which one do you like?

A)Can you tell me which one do you like?

B) Can you tell me which one you like?
 INDIRECT QUESTIONS
• For questions with simple past tense, we do not use the auxiliary ‘did’ but we use the verbs in past forms.
Look at the two examples below.
• 1
• Question Order: Where did you buy these shoes from?
• Sentence Order: You bought these shoes.
• Indirect Question: Can you tell me where you bought these shoes from?

• 2
• Question Order: Did you see Mr. Evans yesterday?
• Sentence Order: You saw Mr. Evans yesterday.
• Indirect Question: Can you tell me if you saw Mr. Evans yesterday?
WHEN THE QUESTION WORD IS THE
SUBJECT
Subject of a sentence is the thing or the person which performs an action. We can find the subject
by asking questions to the verb as ‘who’ and ‘what’.
I broke the vase. = Who? = I.
An accident happened yesterday. = What? = An accident.

When a question word is the subject of the question, we use the sentence order:
Who broke the vase? (We don’t know the subject)
Who did break the vase?
What happened yesterday? (We don’t know about the event)
What did happen yesterday?
INDIRECT QUESTIONS

• In this case, we use the sentence order and do not make any changes for these questions. Look at
the two examples below.
1
• Direct Question: Who cleans your house?
• Indirect Question: Can you tell me who cleans your house?

2
• Direct Question: What happened yesterday?
• Indirect Question: Can you tell me what happened yesterday?
THANK YOU FOR YOUR QUESTIONS?
ATTENTION!