Teaching English through e-learning

Indirect questions

An indirect question is a question inside another question or statement.

    What is the answer? + Do you know ...?

    --> Do you know what the answer is?

There are a number of introductory phrases that can be used to begin an indirect question. For example:

    I'd like to know ...  Do you know ...?

    Can/Could you tell me ...?  I wonder ...

Use indirect questions in formal situations or to be tentative.

    Could you tell me if it's OK to use mobiles here?

    I wonder if she likes me.

! In indirect  questions use statement word order (subject before the auxiliary).

    Do you know where the post office is? ü

    Do you know where is the post office? û

But with an indirect subject question (when we use who, what or which to ask about the subject of a sentence), do not change the word order.

    Who knows him? --> I wonder who knows him.

    What made it go wrong? --> Do you know what made it go wrong?

We use if or whether to introduce yes/no questions.

     Are they expensive? --> I wonder if/whether they are expensive.

! We only use question marks if the introductory phrase itself is a question.

     I'd like to know how much it costs. (not a question)

     Do you know how much it costs? (a question)