Direct and Indirect Questions in English (2024)

FAQs

Direct and Indirect Questions in English? ›

For questions starting with question words like 'what', 'where', 'when', 'who', etc., we report the question using the question word but change the interrogative form to the affirmative form. For example: Direct speech: “Where do they live?” Indirect speech: You asked me where they lived.

For questions starting with question words like 'what', 'where', 'when', 'who', etc., we report the question using the question word but change the interrogative form to the affirmative form. For example: Direct speech: “Where do they live?” Indirect speech: You asked me where they lived.

If the direct question is a “yes or no” question (it has no question word such as what, who, when, where, why, or how), then the indirect question will have if. Direct: Does Tom like Italian food? Indirect: Do you know if Tom likes Italian food? Direct: Are your parents joining us for dinner?

Indirect questions must be introduced by a word which can express a question indirectly, e.g. think (why...), wonder (how...), realize (who...), etc. 2. Question Word. Both Latin and English indirect questions are introduced by a "question word" (e.g. who, how, when, whether, etc.).

An active reader knows how to identify direct and indirect objects in a sentence. Begin by looking for action verbs, then look for a noun or pronoun that receives the action of the verb. That is the direct object. If there is a noun or pronoun that receives the direct object, it is the indirect object.

Examples of direct expenses are wages, customs duty and excise duty. Indirect expenses are those that a company must pay to keep its business running smoothly. Examples of indirect expenses are salary, legal charges, utility bills and rent.

Could you tell me an indirect question? ›

To do this, we can use direct speech or indirect speech. direct speech: 'Do you like working in sales?' he asked. indirect speech: He asked me if I liked working in sales. In indirect speech, we change the question structure (e.g. Do you like) to a statement structure (e.g. I like).

Direct Question: A type of question that is asked directly to someone to get an answer. It is usually a clear and specific question that requires a straightforward response. For example, "What is your name?" is a direct question because it asks for a specific piece of information.

direct speech: 'Do you like working in sales?' he asked. indirect speech: He asked me if I liked working in sales. In indirect speech, we change the question structure (e.g. Do you like) to a statement structure (e.g. I like).

You can answer the question What did he say? in two ways: by repeating the words spoken (direct speech) by reporting the words spoken (indirect or reported speech).

Examples: "He gave me a gift." (The indirect object is "me," and the direct object is "gift.") "She bought John a book." (The indirect object is "John," and the direct object is "book.")