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0:04 lifetime account at englishclass101.com hi everybody my name is Alicia in this video I'm
0:11 going to talk about how to make embedded questions in English let's get started
0:16 first let's take a look at what an embedded question even is what is
0:21 an embedded question an embedded question is a question inside another question
0:27 or inside a sentence embedded questions are used to make questions softer
0:34 or more polite so in this lesson I'm going to compare embedded questions questions
0:40 that are inside something else with direct questions
0:43 so we can see how we need to change the questions in order to
0:48 make this inside type of question
0:50 so let's start by making these two sets
0:54 so the first one is this direct question set
0:58 so here are some samples of just very very basic direct questions what time
1:04 does the bus leave what time does the bus leave very basic question information
1:08 Asian question right or who ate my sandwich who ate my sandwich again very
1:13 simple basic question one more what is the password what is the password these
1:20 are simple basic direct questions
1:22 then let's compare this to embedded questions
1:26 so let's change these direct questions
1:29 and put them inside another question
1:33 or another statement and let's take a look at what happens to the questions
1:36 when we do this
1:38 so the first direct question was what time does the bus leave in an
1:43 embedded question for example we could say can you tell me what time the
1:49 bus leaves can you tell me what time the bus leaves
1:52 so you can see this question what time the bus leaves is different from
1:58 the direct question what time does the bus leave we have different word order
2:04 and different words used here we're going to talk about why this is in
2:09 the middle of today's lesson let's look for the time being at the second
2:14 example though who ate my sandwich in this direct form
2:18 and in the embedded form do you know who ate my sandwich do you
2:23 know who ate my sandwich
2:24 so here we have do you know to introduce the embedded question
2:29 and in this case we have who ate my sandwich no change there's a
2:33 reason for this as well we'll talk about later lastly what is the password
2:38 what is the password in an embedded question it might look like this I'd
2:44 like to know what the password is I'd like to know what the password
2:48 is so again this part the question what the password is this is different
2:53 from what is the password
2:54 so we're going to break down the reasons for these changes
2:58 and introduce the rules
3:00 so that you can make your own embedded questions first let's start by looking
3:04 at this type of sentence what is the past work this is an example
3:09 of a direct question
3:11 that uses the verb be
3:13 so to be meaning is
3:16 or are or was
3:17 or were when you have a question
3:20 that uses the be verb we need to follow a certain type of rule
3:24 and that is we move the B verb after the subject
3:29 when we make an embedded question
3:31 so for example when we saw what is the password we needed to change
3:36 that in our embedded question
3:38 so the verb comes after the subject this is what we see here I'd
3:44 like to know what the password is
3:46 so in this case the verb comes after the subject the password this is
3:51 the same rule we need to follow for other questions
3:54 that use the beaver
3:56 so let's take a look at three more examples first where are the car
4:01 keys where are the car keys here is my be verb
4:05 so we need to move this after the subject to create an embedded question
4:10 here's my sample can you tell me where the car keys are
4:15 so here is my embedded question I'm starting the question can you tell me
4:20 and the basic question is here the direct question is here with the new
4:25 grammar can you tell me where the car keys are
4:28 so a very common mistake is Learners don't move the be verb to the
4:34 end or to after the subject can you tell me where are the car
4:37 keys is incorrect make sure to move it to the after point the after
4:42 subject Point okay let's look at the next example how long is the movie
4:47 how long is the movie here the be verb is is
4:51 so we need to move this after the subject here's our sample embedded question
4:56 with this grammar do you know how long the movie is do you know
5:01 introduces the embedded question how long the movie is again we moved is from
5:08 this position before the subject to this position after the subject one more example
5:14 of this why is the city
5:16 so polluted why is the city
5:18 so polluted polluted means it's filled with maybe dirt trash it's poor quality air
5:24 and so on so why is the city
5:27 so polluted again we have this be verb here
5:31 and here's our subject the city
5:32 so here's a sample embedded question I wonder why the city is
5:39 so polluted I wonder why the city is
5:42 so polluted so please note we don't move the be verb always to the
5:47 end of the sentence we move it after the subject like we see here
5:51 the city is our subject
5:53 so we put it after the subject in this position I wonder why the
5:57 city is so polluted also another thing that's important to note
6:01 that you can see here is
6:03 that although these are called embedded questions
6:06 because there's a question inside something else we don't always need to use a
6:11 question mark at the end in this case
6:14 and in this case we're we're asking a question right can you tell me
6:18 and do you know
6:19 but this one I wonder it's like we're thinking about something I wonder why
6:25 this is not a question
6:26 so we use a period at the end of this
6:28 so keep this in mind sometimes it's a question
6:31 and we should use a question mark sometimes it's not
6:34 so just use a period
6:36 or maybe an exclamation point okay great
6:39 so this is our first point about be embedded questions embedded questions
6:43 that use B now let's take a look at another thing we need to
6:48 consider that's when our question uses the auxiliary
6:51 or the helping verb do
6:53 so we saw an example of this here what time does the bus leave
6:58 we saw this here here's my verb our auxiliary does we change this to
7:03 can you tell me what time the bus leaves
7:05 so in this part you might notice there's no does right why is
7:10 that that's because of an interesting rule we need to consider
7:14 so in these cases we remove
7:16 that we remove that do
7:18 or does or did
7:19 and we use the verb the other verb that's in the question
7:24 so what does this look like here are a couple of quick examples our
7:28 direct question where did he go where did he go in this case we
7:34 have past tense yeah did right
7:36 and our verb here is go right
7:39 so to follow this rule we need to remove this auxiliary this helping word
7:45 and we use the verb that's in the question instead we also need to
7:50 make sure this change uses the same tense
7:54 as the original helping verb
7:56 so what does this look like here's a sample do you know where he
8:01 went do you know where he went
8:03 so do you know introduces the question where he went we use went
8:10 because it's the past tense form of the verb
8:13 that was in the question before we have no did here
8:17 so not do you know where did he went incorrect that's a very common
8:21 type of mistake I see with Learners do you know where he went it's
8:26 the perfect way to create this type of embedded question let's look at one
8:30 more example what time does she start work what time does she start work
8:35 so again we have does here does all right
8:39 so we need to remove
8:41 that and we have this start in this case we have the verb start
8:45 so what's a sample sentence here I'm not sure what time she starts work
8:52 I'm not sure what time
8:54 so we have this part Remains the Same what time she starts work
9:00 so we have our verb here matching the tense of the sentence in this
9:04 case this is a present tense sentence right
9:08 so we have the present tense verb structure applied she starts work right
9:14 so keep in mind we always have to use the same tense
9:18 that does is used in the original question
9:21 but we have to remove
9:23 that does and use
9:24 that tense for the verb that's actually in the sentence
9:28 so this one can be a little bit tricky to remember it's kind of
9:31 a special grammar point
9:32 but this is how we use the do verb rule with embedded questions okay
9:38 great so one more quick point about this is
9:42 if you have a question like this who ate my sandwich there's no beaver
9:46 and there's no do verb like lucky you there's no change
9:49 so who ate my sandwich a question like this
9:53 that doesn't have this verb
9:54 or this verb doesn't require any change we can simply use it in the
9:59 embedded question as it is who ate my sandwich can be put into the
10:04 embedded question with no changes
10:06 so that's the one that's easy to remember
10:08 so be and do questions are the ones you really need to think about
10:13 okay great let's move on to the last part for this lesson yes
10:18 or no questions so sometimes we have questions
10:21 that don't have a question word like who what where
10:24 when how long and
10:26 so on these are simple yes
10:28 or no questions so
10:29 if there is no question word in this sentence you can create the embedded
10:35 question with whether or
10:38 if so if or whether we start the embedded question with
10:41 that so what does
10:42 that look like let's take a look at some very simple examples here are
10:47 they hungry or was he angry
10:50 or is this vegetarian
10:52 so none of these have a who what where
10:54 when why question right simple yes no
10:56 so how do we make an embedded question with these first one are they
11:01 hungry okay here's a sample question let's ask
11:05 if they're hungry let's ask
11:08 if they're hungry this is our embedded question
11:10 if they are hungry yeah okay next one was he angry was he angry
11:18 do you know if he was angry do you know
11:21 if he was angry
11:23 if he was angry okay
11:25 and the third one is this vegetarian
11:27 so meaning is this Food Vegetarian could you tell me introduces the question could
11:34 you tell me if this is vegetarian could you tell me
11:39 if this is vegetarian oh yes it is
11:41 or no it isn't
11:42 so keep in mind we can use whether
11:45 or if but generally
11:46 if tends to sound a little bit more casual a little bit more commonly
11:50 used in everyday conversation you may hear people using weather in this position too
11:56 another point to consider you might have noticed
11:59 that we changed the B verb position here
12:02 as well yeah so for example are they hungry
12:05 because they are hungry
12:07 and was he angry becomes he was angry right
12:12 so we still have to change the position of the B verb here
12:16 and we add this
12:18 if if or whether before the embedded question okay
12:21 so this is another important grammar point to keep in mind with practice it
12:26 becomes easier and there are some embedded questions
12:28 that are very very common for example could you tell me where the restroom
12:32 is there are some
12:33 that you will use a lot
12:34 and they will become easier over time
12:37 so the very last point
12:38 that I want to make is about these starting phrases here
12:43 so these starting phrases we've looked at in today's lesson these are some examples
12:48 of phrases we've very commonly use to begin our embedded questions
12:53 so for example do you know we looked at this earlier many times do
12:58 you know something or can
13:00 or could you tell me can you tell me
13:03 or could you tell me could will sound a little bit more pull it
13:07 let's ask or let's find out
13:10 or let's see we can use these
13:12 as well we saw this here let's ask
13:15 if they're hungry let's find out
13:16 if they're hungry let's see
13:18 if they're hungry so this is suggesting let us do this thing we want
13:22 to find out some information the next one is I wonder I wonder we
13:27 saw this here I wonder why the city is
13:30 so polluted so we can use this to kind of think out loud
13:33 and the last two I'm not sure I'm not sure we saw this here
13:39 I'm not sure what time she starts work
13:41 so we can use this to express some uncertainty
13:44 and the last one I'd like to know I'd like to know
13:49 so when you want to politely request information I'd like to know what time
13:53 the bus leaves and
13:54 so on so these are just some examples there are some more
13:57 as well but these are very very common
13:59 so I hope that this lesson helped you understand what embedded questions are why
14:05 we use them to sound a little bit more polite
14:07 or to sound a little bit less direct
14:09 and I hope that you are able to make your own embedded questions following
14:14 the rules we talked about in this lesson of course
14:16 if you have any questions
14:17 or comments or if you want to practice making some sentences with this grammar
14:21 please feel free to do
14:23 so in the comment section of this video also don't forget to give this
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14:33 that can help you with your English studies thanks very much for watching this
14:37 lesson and I will see you again soon bye want to speed up your
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