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 PRACTICE ON POINTS OF ENGLISH GRAMMAR

• Noun Clause Sum
• Wh- Questions
• Yes-No Questions
• Commands
• Statements
• That/What Phrases
• Noun Clause Qz
• Report Speech Qz

Wh- Questions

Changing Wh- Questions to Reported Speech

 

 

Wh- questions differ from questions beginning with auxiliary verb forms such as: is, are, am, do, does, has, have, can, will, must.

Instead, the pronouns who, where, what, why and how are used to embed (insert) the question clause into the main clause.  

 

Quoted vs. Reported Questions

QUOTED WH-QUESTION	REPORTED WH-QUESTION
My friend said, "How are you?"	My friend asked how I was.
My friend asked, "Where have you been?"	My friend asked where we had been.

 

 

 

Sentence Transformation

CHANGES		INDEPENDENT CLAUSE	EMBEDDED QUESTION
1	Remove comma, quotes and question mark.	My friend said,	"How   are    you"?.
2	Change said to asked	My friend asked ,	"How   are    you".
3	Join the clauses using: how, who, whom, where, when,or why	My friend asked ,	how  are you.
4	Adjust point of view of 1) pronoun to speaker's P.O.V.; 2) 2nd verb to time frame of 1st verb .		how  was    I.
5	Put the subject before the verb.	My friend asked ,	how     I        was.

 

 

 

Verb Tense Adjustment  

QUESTION  VERB TENSE		Statements VERB TENSE
Present	"How are you? "	Past	She asked how I was.
Present Progressive	"Where are you going?"	Past Progressive	She asked where I was going.
Past	" Whom did you call?"	Past Perfect	She asked whom I had called.
Present Progressive	" Whom are you calling?"	Past Progressive	She asked whom I was calling.
Present Perfect	" Where have you been?"	Past Perfect	She asked where I had been.
Present Perfect Progressive	" How have you been doing?"	Past Perfect Progressive	She asked how I had been doing.
Present - General Truth	"Where is Mars?"	Present - General Truth	She asked where Mars is.

 

 

 

Synonyms

SYNONYM	MEANING	SENTENCE
ask	request information or something	My neighbor asked who my gardener *is.
inquire	request information (formal)	Mr. Smith inquired how my family was.
question	settle doubt	My instructor questioned who had done my homework.
interrogate	conduct official questioning; legal	The police interrogated the suspect. (Does not accept an indirect object.)
query	settle doubt (data)	The accountant queried the outcome.

* If tense reflects "general truth", it does not change to past form.

 

 

Common Mistake  

ERROR	FIX
The man asked what time is it. She asked where are we going for lunch.  (This is a common error of native speakers as well)	The man asked what time it was. She asked where we were going for lunch.

 

 

 

 

Practice

Reporting What Someone Said

 

 

 

1. Change the quoted question to a reported question.
2. Select the word from each menu that best completes the sentence. 
3. Compare your response to the answer by clicking the "check" button to the right. 

#	YOUR RESPONSE	CHECK ANSWER
1.	"What did she say?"     He asked me - what did she say. what she said. what she had said. what had she said.
2.	"Where are you going?"  He asked me - where was I going. where am I going. where I am going.. where I was going.
3.	"What time is it?"  Can you tell me - what time is it? what time it is?
4.	"How old are you?"   I'd rather not say - how old am I. how old I am.
5.	"When are you leaving?"   Please let me know - when you are leaving. when are you leaving.
6.	"What color are you selecting?"  Would you tell me - what color you are selecting? what are you selecting color? what color are you selecting?
7.	"How much do you pay for rent?"  Would you mind telling me - how much do you pay for rent? how much you pay for rent?
8.	"How many times have you seen that movie?"  He asked me - how many times have I seen how many times I have seen how many times I had seen that movie.
9.	"Who is coming for dinner?"   I would like to know - who coming for dinner. who is coming for dinner. who coming for dinner is.
10.	"Who did they choose to lead the group?"    Can you tell me - who did they choose who they chose   to lead the group.
11.	Where is he from?   Do you know - where is he from? where he is from?
12.	Did he learn English in England?    I wonder whether - did he learn he learned  English in England.
13.	How long does it take to learn a language?    Who knows - how long it takes how long does it take  to learn a language.
14.	Where did you buy that book?"   I would love to know where - he bought he did buy he had bought had he bought that book.
15.	Where did he buy that book?  He wouldn't tell me where - he bought he did buy he had bought had he bought that book.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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