Reported Questions – Indirect Questions

Reported Questions are introduced with ask, wonder, inquire, want to know etc. In reported questions we use affirmative word order and the question mark becomes a full stop. Inverted commas are omitted. To report a question we use: a) ask + question word (who, where, which, how etc) when the direct question begins with a question word, and b) ask + if/whether when the direct question begins with an auxiliary verb (can, do, have etc). Tenses, personal pronouns, possessive adjectives, time words etc change as in statements.

Direct Speech	Reported Speech
“What time is it?” she asked him.	She asked him what time it was.
“Do you eat meat?” she asked him.	She asked him if/whether he ate meat.

Exercise234. Turn the following sentences into Reported Speech.

1. “Will you take the dog out for a walk?” he asked me.... He asked me if/whether I would take the dog out for a walk.... 2. “How much money have you got?” he asked me. 3. “Did you really write this poem?” she asked Robert. 4. “How did the operation go?” they asked the doctor. 5. “Will you be going on holiday next Easter?” he asked her. 6. “Is that your daughter walking along the pier, Mary?” Joan asked. 7. “Why is he acting this way?” she asked me. 8. “Can you let Joan know I’ll be late?” she asked me. 9. “Which of these dresses suits me best?” she asked Lynn. 10. “Does this bicycle belong to anyone?” he asked. 11. “Who used my toothbrush?” he asked. 12. “Do you want to join us at 6.00?” he asked me. 13. “Why didn’t you tell me about the party?” he asked me.

Indirect questions are used to ask for advice or information. They are introduced with: Could you tell me...?, Do you know...?, I wonder..., I want to know..., I doubt..., etc and the verb is in the affirmative. If the indirect question starts with “I want to know...”, “I wonder...” or “I doubt...”, the question mark is omitted. Question words (what, where, who etc) or whether can be followed by an infinitive in the indirect question if the subject of the question is the speaker.

Direct questions	Indirect questions
“Where is Joan?” he asked me.	Do you know where Joan is?
“Did he tell you the truth?” she asked me.	She wondered if/whether he had told me the truth.
“What shall I do next?” he asked me.	He wanted to know what he should do next/what to do next.

Exercise235. Turn the following sentences into Indirect questions.

1. Where are you going? (I want to know...)... I want to know where you are going.... 2. Did he steal the money? (I doubted...) 3. Has she told anyone about our engagement? (He wondered...) 4. What time does the train leave? (Could you tell me...) 5. Who did it? (She wondered...) 6. Where have you been? (He wanted to know...) 7. Does he speak French? (I wonder...) 8. Will she be on time? (I doubt...) 9. How long has he been working here? (Do you know...) 10. Are they moving house? (I want to know...)

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