Asking questions DIRECTLY and INDIRECTLY

Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/flatmates/episode46/languagepoint.shtml
INDIRECT QUESTIONS

There are two main ways of asking questions - directly and indirectly. Both have the same meaning but we use indirect questions when we want to be more polite, more formal or less confrontational. We can ask a direct question - Where is Brighton Pier?  Or to be more formal or polite, we can ask  an indirect question - I wonder if you could  tell me where Brighton Pier is?

Word Order

When we create indirect questions, the question (What time is it?) becomes part of a longer sentence or questions (Do you know.?) and the word order changes from the order of a direct question. For example: Direct: What time is it? Indirect: Do you know what time it is? Direct: Why was he late? Indirect: Can you tell me why he was late? Direct: What is that? Indirect: Would you mind telling me what that is?

Using 'do'

When there is no auxiliary verb (be, do have,

 can, will etc) in a sentence, we need to put in

do, does or did when we create a direct question.

When we make this into an indirect question 

however, we don't use the verb 'do'. For example:
Direct: When does the lesson end?
Indirect: Could you tell me when the lesson ends?

Direct: What car does she drive?
Indirect: Can you tell me what car she drives?

Direct: How did you make that cake?
Indirect: Would you mind telling me how you made
 that cake?

Using 'if' or 'whether':

If there is no question word (who, what, when,  why, how) in a direct question, we need to use  if or whether in the indirect question.  For example:  Direct: Did she make it on time? Indirect: Can you tell me if she made it on time? or Can you tell me whether she made it on time? Direct: Is this the right bus for Oxford Street? Indirect: Do you have any idea if this is the right  bus for Oxford Street? Direct: Is she French? Indirect: Do you know whether she is French (or not)?

Vocabulary:

a pier: a large platform which sticks out into the  sea and which people can walk along  poxy (informal): rubbish, not good a spot: a place What's the difference between Indirect Questions and Reported Questions?  Check it out:

http://busyteacher.org/17237-how-to-teach-indirect-questions.html