Hello everyone how are you today ? This is Marc.
I'm doing great. Thanks for asking
could you please tell me what time it is ?
Do you know where the closest bus stop is ?
Is it possible to know what the result of my test was ?
I wonder if you are paying attention to this lesson.
In this lesson we're going to learn how to make indirect questions
So stay tuned.
Yes that's right we're going to talk about making indirect questions
However, we spoke about
making questions. If you want to watch all those lessons
you may click here
I will review more or less how to make a normal question
What do we need first ?
We need the auxiliary, yes the auxiliary is essential
in a question. The auxiliary plus the subject.
We have WH question words like who,
how, where, when that goes first
Then, we have the auxiliary like I said
Then the subject sometimes, I will get to that in a minute.
Then the verb, the verb could be the base of the verb, the past, the past participle,
an -ing verb
And then we have the object maybe or
the time expression at the end of the sentence
of the question sorry ! so...
we have two types of questions,
object questions and subject questions
The object questions follow the following
rule so WH question word, then the auxiliary,
then the subject and the verb, like
in this example: What are you doing ?
I'm asking for the object
I'm doing something. So something is the object. right ?
In the other example, I ask for the subject. so
who taught you English ? here
we need the subject we want to know
who ? somebody taught me English
so, you can see that we have WH question
and then we have the verb in the past
and then the object
and then something else, right ?
so it's the subject question
this is a subject question. Who taught you English ?
So Marc for example, taught me English
If you want to watch those
lessons, as I said you can click there
and you will get to that lesson.
But in this lesson I want to concentrate on
making indirect questions and when
would we make indirect questions ?
when we want to be more polite to somebody
or we want to keep a distance from someone, right ? so we make
indirect questions in those cases.
and we have expressions that we use
when making indirect questions
and so we are going to get to
all those expressions the first expression
that I introduced in my introductory example
was with could...could you tell me...
or can you help me ....
or would it be possible ... notice
how I used modal verbs
so could, can, and would
remember that obviously
if you are making an indirect question
the first part of the question
is the question ....so the auxiliary
then follows the same rule, right ? the auxiliary can
then you, is the subject
then help which is the base of the verb
help
and then the object, the rest
is not a question, it's part of a question but it's not the question itself.
let me give you examples to show you what I said.
could you please tell me what time it is ?
could you please tell me...
I added please here just to be polite
could you please tell me what time it is ?
notice that, I don't say
what time is it ? but what time it is ? this is not the question
this is part of the question but it's not the question
the question is right here, could you please tell me
that's why it is an indirect question
so let's go to the second example
with would it be possible
would it be possible
to take a look at your homework?
Would it be possible to take a look at your homework ?
so here would it be possible is the question
and the rest is part of the question is not the question
and the other example
would it be possible for me
if you want to be very direct I mean
showing that it's you that you care
would it be possible for me to go out
early from work today ?
so would it be possible is the question and the rest is not a question
to go out early from work today ?
now, the second expression
that I used and that we use actually
is do you know...
or do you happen to know...
using the auxiliary DO
and then the subject YOU, right ?
Do you happen to know, do you know
and the examples are:
Do you know where the closest bus stop is ?
notice here, again
don't get confused with these, some people say
where is the closest bus stop ?
it's wrong ! because the question is
do you know where
the closest bus stop is ?
right ? let's look at a second example
do you happen to know - do you happen to know
so here do you happen to know is the question
and then if - if the train arrives on time ?
notice something ? yes
we have conjugated the verb to arrive right here
is third person the train - it
arrives on time - yes
it is right because the question is this part
it's not this - ok it's the first part
do you happen to know if the train
arrives on time ? - yes many
people make mistakes with this. So
I'm going to erase this, and I am going to go over two other cases where we use
making indirect questions
yes, so making indirect questions
the third point expressions with the verb to be like
is it possible, or is there any chance,
so let's look at the examples
is is possible to know what the result of my test was ?
again, the question here is - is it possible
and then we have
to know the verb what
the result of my test and here is the subject
was ok ? verb or auxiliary
so to know what the result of my test was not
what was the result of my test ? no !
the question is here - is it possible
So let's look at the other example
is there any chance
is there any chance for me if you want to
to use your cellphone ?
or to use your phone ?
is there any chance for me to use your cellphone ?
or your phone ?
now, if you don't want to use any of these expressions
you can always use I wonder if or
I'd like to know or I was wondering if
these are NOT questions
but they are statements made to indicate a question
let's look at my example
I wonder if...
you're paying attention to this lesson ?
so I wonder if you're paying attention to this lesson ?
this is an indirect question
if I wanted to make a direct question I would say
Are you paying attention to my lesson ? or to this lesson ?
Are you paying attention to this lesson ?
If I want to be indirect
I wonder if you're paying attention to this lesson ?
The other example and the last example for today is
I'd like to know - I'd like to know
how much this house costs
look at here, we have the verb to cost
the third person this house costs
so as you can see they are not questions they are
indirect questions - I'd like to know
how much this house costs
or I'd like to know if
you're coming over tomorrow ?
I'd like to know if you're coming
over tomorrow ? If I want to be direct
I would say: Are you coming over tomorrow ?
Are you coming over tomorrow ?
ok that's it for today
I hope you've enjoyed the lesson
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Have a great day and see you next week with a new...
grammar lesson - Take care - bye bye