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 #2 (permalink) Wed Oct 31, 2007 21:16 pm which form is more appropriate? Direct/indirect questions |
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Hi,
In fact, 2 is right and 1 is wrong. Your sentence is declarative and therefore no question mark after it :)
I'd like to ask what it means |
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Lost_Soul
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| #3 (permalink) Thu Nov 01, 2007 16:26 pm which form is more appropriate? Direct/indirect questions |
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| Thank you very much, Alex. |
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 Klpno
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| #4 (permalink) Thu Nov 01, 2007 18:32 pm which form is more appropriate? Direct/indirect questions |
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By the way, Alex, i found an example of a sentence that is similar to the thing I asked about:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/magazine/3886617.stm
1. "I'd like to ask what are his hopes for peace in my country, as I'm Irish." (Martin Shanahan, of Cork - who now lives in London - who was first in line having arrived at the bookshop 26 hours before the scheduled signing.)
Martin says "what are his hopes" not "what his hopes for peace... are."
That's why I'm a little confused with all this. |
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Klpno
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| #5 (permalink) Thu Nov 01, 2007 19:47 pm which form is more appropriate? Direct/indirect questions |
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Hi,
An interesting point. I would call this a bit of 'journalese' a licence used by a journalist to say the unconventional. It's a sort of hybrid indicating a mixture of direct and indirect question. In a way it's more effective than the acceptable: 'what his hopes are' - in a way more dramatic albeit technically 'ungrammatical'.
Alan
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| #6 (permalink) Thu Nov 01, 2007 22:31 pm which form is more appropriate? Direct/indirect questions |
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I'm not sure and want to ask some more questions ! :)
Due to the fact that " I'd like to ask..." is a declarative form we do not put the following phrase as a question, am I right?
I'd like to ask what it means... not I'd like to ask what does it mean?
is the same thing with
What time is it? (question)
Could you tell me what time it is ?
if we use could you as an interrogative part we don't use interrogative word orded aftewards?
terribly confusing :/
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Michal. I'm an english student :-) |
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Michauek
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| #7 (permalink) Fri Nov 02, 2007 2:43 am which form is more appropriate? Direct/indirect questions |
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| michauek wrote: |
I'm not sure and want to ask some more questions ! :)
Due to the fact that " I'd like to ask..." is a declarative form we do not put the following phrase as a question, am I right? Yes, that is correct.
I'd like to ask what it means... not I'd like to ask what does it mean? Right again. In the sentence "I'd like to ask what it means." you have asked "What does it mean?" in an indirect way.
is the same thing with
What time is it? (question) Correct. That's a direct question.
Could you tell me what time it is ? Correct. That's an indirect question. In other words, you ask "What time is it?" indirectly.
if we use could you as an interrogative part we don't use interrogative word orded aftewards? "Could you" is simply the start of an interrogative sentence and the word order is already interrogative:
- Could you help me? (interrogative)
- You could help me. (affirmative)
Now look at these two simple direct questions:
(1) Can you tell me something?
(2) Where does he live?
When you combine those two sentences, the second question is indirect. The interrogative part of the sentence is (1), but subject and verb in (2) become grammatically affirmative:
Can you tell me where he lives?
terribly confusing :/ |
Despite the fact that it is sometimes frowned upon to discuss usage at all on this forum, I've added my comments in the quote -- mainly because Alan has already gone ahead and dared to mention usage in a previous post here. ;)
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Yankee
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| #8 (permalink) Fri Nov 02, 2007 12:21 pm which form is more appropriate? Direct/indirect questions |
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thx a lot ! I follow it now :) !
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Michauek
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| #9 (permalink) Fri Nov 02, 2007 13:23 pm which form is more appropriate? Direct/indirect questions |
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Alan, Amy, Alex thank you very much for your explanations.
Michaeuk, thank you for your question that caused further explanations. |
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Klpno
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| What do you make of the word 'photocopiable'? | Has any one tried using word list on cell phones? |
