word order in indirect question

The reason is as follows:

If we do not begin a question directly, but begin it with something like:

Can you tell me...?
Do you know...? I wonder if...?

the word order is the same as in the appropriate affirmative statement

Direct question: What is he doing?
Indirect question: Do you know what he is doing?

Direct question: Where have they been?
Indirect question: I wonder where they have been?

Your examples...


1. Direct question: What is in his hand?
2. Indirect question: Do you know what is in his hand?
3. Affirmative statement: I know what is in his hand.


4. Direct question: Where does she live?
5. Indirect question: Do you know where she lives?
6. Affirmative statement: I know where she lives.




Also...

If the direct question contains do, does or did, we omit it in the indirect question

Direct question: What do you want?
Indirect question: Can you tell me what you want?

Direct question: When did she leave?
Indirect question: Do you know when she left?


And...


In yes / no questions, we use if or whether (the word order is the same as in reported questions)

Direct question: Have you seen my dog?
Indirect question: Could you tell me if you have seen my dog?

Hi Contrex

Thanks for the detailed explanation.

1. Direct question: What is in his hand?
Indirect question: Do you know what is in his hand?

2. Direct question: What is in his name?
Indirect question: Do you know what his name is?

Why is it that in the first indirect question, the word order is the same, whereas in the second, inversion is needed? Both direct questions have the same structure. Am I right?

Many thanks.

Taking what you actually typed...



Indirect question: Do you know what is in his name?

Hi Contrex

You're, as always. alert, whereas I'm often careless. I've corrected and thanks for pointing out the error.

1. Direct question: What is in his hand?
Indirect question: Do you know what is in his hand?

2. Direct question: What is his name?
Indirect question: Do you know what his name is?

Why is it that in the first indirect question, the word order is the same, whereas in the second, inversion is needed? Both direct questions have the same structure. Am I right?

Many thanks.

As I have explained already, we derive the word order of the indirect question from the appropriate affirmative answer, which may or may not match that of the direct question. The grammatical considerations which decide the word order of the affirmative answer, therefore, also decide the word order of the indirect question.

Sometimes they match...

1. Direct question: What is in his hand?
Indirect question: Do you know what is in his hand?
Affirmative answer (literal): Yes, I know what is in his hand.
Informative answer (more usual): A stick is in his hand.


Sometimes they don't...

2. Direct question: What is his name?
Indirect question: Do you know what his name is?
Affirmative answer (literal): Yes, I know what his name is.
Informative answer (more usual): His name is John.

Is this now clear?

You lost me contrex and its my first/only langauge.

Why is it thus .....because it is.

OK, dadpad, I'll try and make it simple for you :wink:

A direct question e.g. "What is in John's hand?" may be rewritten as an indirect question e.g. "[Do you know/Can you tell me/I wonder] what is in John's hand?"

Not all direct / indirect pairs are like this. For example:

direct: Where is the cat?
indirect: Can you tell me where the cat is?

The word order of the indirect question is different from the direct one. "Is" comes after "the cat".

To decide the word order of the indirect question we need to compose the "affirmative statement" that contains the information sought by the question.

A stick is in John's hand.

The cat is in the garden.

I ask directly, "Where is the cat?"

The indirect question is asking: Can you tell me the following information, namely, where the cat is?

Is that better?

Many thanks, Contrex, for your detailed explanation.

<Stares>

Uh! sorry sir, what was that?