 Embedded Questions This video is brought to you by the following English learning websites. Do you know how to put a question inside another question or statement? This is called embedding. We call this process embedded questions. That is what this video is about. We have a main question or statement and then we put another question inside of it. That question is called the embedded question. Let's see how it works. There are eight main things we will consider here. Number one, regular questions. Two, direct quotes. Three, embedded questions. Four, indirect quotes or reported speech. Five, reduced phrasing. Six, true versus false questions. Seven, other phrases. Eight, putting it all together. Number one, regular questions in English. To make a question we usually switch positions of the subject and first verb. For example, he is a doctor. To make a question we say, is he a doctor? She is working in California. To make a question we say, is she working in California? Note that it's only the subject and the first verb that change positions. The second verb remains in the same place. Sometimes we add a WH word to the beginning of the question. For example, what is his job? Where is she working? Note that the question word order does not change when a WH word is added. Two, direct quotes. The easiest way to insert a question into another sentence is to use direct quotes. For example, he asked me, what time is it? We are merely putting another person's exact words within quotation marks. What time is it? Is there a question? He asked me, what time is it? We're using his exact words. We don't have to change the word order or anything within the quotation marks. Punctuation and direct quotes. Generally with direct quotes we put the exact words including punctuation and capitalization within quotation marks. For example, Nigel asked, where are you going? Where am I going? Responded Jelena to the theater. You will often see a comma after the introductory phrase. Josh calmly asked, where did you put the money? These are general rules for direct quotes and questions. Other rules may apply to different situations and types of sentences. Three, when we put one question into another question or statement without quotes we need to switch the subject and verb back to their original positions. For example, the question, what is his job is put into another question. Do you know? Do you know what is his job? No, that's incorrect. You have to say, do you know what his job is? Notice we're using the same sentence structure as in a statement. This job is management. Switch it back to the subject verb order. This process is called embedding. These are called embedded questions. For embedded questions we do not capitalize the question word. If the first verb in the question is a form of do, the do is omitted and the main verb goes back to its original form in the embedded question. For example, the question is, what does she know? We put that into another question. Can you tell me what does she know? No, that's incorrect. You need to say, can you tell me what she knows? She knows a lot. Keep the statement word order here. Next example, where did he go? That's the question. You put it into a statement, I don't know. Where did he go? That's incorrect. We have to say, I don't know where he went. Notice the past tense here. In the original question, the past tense is in the did. In the embedded question, the past tense is in the word went. He went to the hospital. To make things easier to understand, we'll call the main phrase the stem sentence or question and the inserted phrase the embedded question. For example, John told me, what should I do? John told me, is the stem sentence, what should I do, is the question. John told me, what I should do. John told me, stem, what I should do, embedded question. The stem sentence or question can control the tense of the embedded question. For example, I asked Kerry, who is that man? This is a direct quote, no change in grammar. I asked Kerry who that man was. Both the word order and tense change here. Let's look at this step by step. Start with the question, who is that man? Put it into a stem sentence, I asked Kerry, who is that man? That's incorrect. I asked Kerry who that man is. Not quite right. Next, I asked Kerry who that man was. This is correct. When I asked, it was in the past tense. The past tense in the stem sentence usually prevails over the embedded question. Other elements of the stem sentence can affect the embedded question as well. See the following examples. Jim asked me, what would you do? This is a direct quote, exactly what Jim said. Next, Jim asked me what I would do. This is an embedded question. I'm telling you what Jim asked me. Notice how the I here is referring to me, the speaker. This is also called an indirect quote. I'm not using Jim's exact words. I'm telling you what Jim asked me. Next, Jim asked me, what should I do? This is a direct quote. Jim is referring to himself in this case. Jim asked me what he should do. Now I'm telling you what Jim asked me. So the he is referring to Jim. This is an indirect quote or reported speech. I'm reporting to you what Jim asked me. Five, reducing embedded questions. Sometimes embedded questions can be reduced to an infinitive, two plus verb. For example, Jane asked me what she should buy. This is an embedded question. Jane asked me what to buy. This is reduced to three words. Don told me where I should go. This is an embedded question. John told me where to go. Reduced, true versus false questions. Some people get how do you and how to mixed up. How do you is a true question. For example, how do you fix a leaky faucet? I want to know, so I'm asking. How to fix a leaky faucet question mark is not a real question. It's bad grammar. This phrase is actually an answer, not a question at all. For example, this is how to fix a leaky faucet, period. You can expect instructions to follow on how to do it. It does not ask you, it tells you how to do it. For example, how to fix a leaky faucet, colon, not question mark. Step one, step two, step three. But some people write or say how to question mark. They are incorrect. Note, even native speakers can be wrong sometimes. Do not ask how to spell that. Ask a real question, how do you spell that? Some people may introduce a process by asking how to question mark. Maybe they don't know, or maybe they think it's cute. It's not, it's annoying, and it's incorrect. Seven, other types of phrasing. We sometimes use special grammar with yes-no questions. For example, will Liz come to the party? This is a yes-no question. The answer we expect is either yes or no. Let's look at how it works. For example, the question here is, will Liz come to the party? We want to put it inside a stem sentence, do you know? Do you know if Liz will come to the party or not? Because of the yes-no nature of this question we often use the word if. Sometimes we use whether. Do you know whether or not Liz will come to the party? Let's look at another example. We'll use the same embedded question, will Liz come to the party? Put it into a stem sentence. I wonder, I wonder if Liz will come to the party. This is a yes-no question inside of the statement. Maybe she will, maybe she won't. Eight, putting it all together. See how embedded questions work in various situations. First example, what time is it? This is a regular question. Can you tell me what time it is? This is an embedded question. He asked me what time it was. This is an indirect quote or reported speech. First example, how to play chess? This is incorrect, it's not a real question. How do you play chess? Correct, that's a true question. I asked Rob, how do you play chess? This is a direct quote, what I asked him. I asked Rob, how to play chess? This is a reduced embedded question and it's okay. This time, tell whether the following are correct or not. Please feel free to pause the video if you'd like more time for this. Here are the answers. Number one, I don't know where is Matt. Incorrect, the correct answer is, I don't know where Matt is. Two, how to make a paper airplane? Incorrect, the correct answer is, how do you make a paper airplane? Three, I wonder if he is here yet. Correct. Four, can you tell me where the bank is? Correct. Five, she asked me what should she wear. Incorrect, the correct answer is, she asked me what she should wear. Six, we asked Jay, when does the game start? Correct, this is a direct quote. Jill told me what the movie is about. Incorrect, the correct answer is, Jill told me what the movie was about. From Jill's perspective the movie was in the past tense. Eight, do you know why Lenny is late? Correct. Nine, I don't care where does he come from. Incorrect, the correct answer is, I don't care where he comes from. Ten, please ask Nancy when will she arrive. Incorrect, the correct answer is, please ask Nancy when she will arrive. Hope that was helpful. Remember to subscribe to our channel for more videos like these. And please leave us a thumbs up in the comments section below. Thanks for watching. If you have ideas for our next video, please let us know at the link below.