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Hello and welcome to today's Grammar Gameshow!
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I'm your host, Will!
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Ah, make something up yourself!
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And of course, let's not forget Leslie,
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our all-knowing voice in the sky.
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Hello, everyone!
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Tonight, we're going to ask you three questions about…
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Questions!
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Those investigative interrogatives that
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satisfy the curious and kill the cat.
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OK! Now, let's meet our contestants!
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Hello, all. My name's Liz!
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And contestant number two?
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Hello, everyone. I'm Clarence!
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Nice to see you again Liz.
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This is your fifth…
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Hold it right there, Will. This is a sting.
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Agent Clarence Articulates
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from the Bureau of Invisible Know-it-all Grammarians
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Held Invisibly Somewhere in a Box in the Sky.
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Not…
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B.O.I.N.G.H.I.S.I.A.B.I.T.S.!
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Yes, well, we are working on the acronym.
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Now, I've heard some rumours about you and your
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Grammar Gameshow.
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Have you got an unlicenced Leslie?
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Rumours?
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How?
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We've had an informant working on the inside
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for the last few weeks.
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Liz!
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You snake in the grass. How could you?
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Sorry, Will. They give better gifts.
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Leslie Licence please.
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We have some questions for you.
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Questions, eh?
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I can't imagine why.
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Leslie's very well cared for.
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He's happy here.
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Aren't you Leslie?
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Well, I what I'd really appreciate is…
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We must get that cable fixed!
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Licence, please.
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Quid pro quo, Agent Clarence.
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We are in the middle of a quiz game.
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You play my game,
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and I'll play yours.
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Quid
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pro
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quo.
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Well, it looks like I have no choice but to proceed.
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Well, OK! Let's get going,
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and don't forget,
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you can play along at home too.
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Our first round is a reverse round.
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I'm going to give you the answer,
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and you'll tell me the question.
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The category is standard object question grammar.
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Ready?
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Answer one:
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Put the auxiliary verb in front of the subject.
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What is the question?
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How do we form most object questions?
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Correct!
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Answer two.
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Yes/no and question word.
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What's the question?
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What are the two types of object questions?
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Correct!
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Answer three:
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What, who, where, when, why, how, which.
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What's the question?
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What kinds of words start a question-word question?
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Correct!
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Answer four:
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They use an auxiliary verb only, but
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short answers are possible.
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What's the question?
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What makes yes/no questions different from
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question-word questions?
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Correct!
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Leslie?
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Well done!
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The most common type of question
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is the object question.
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In this type,
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the normal word order of a sentence is changed.
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The auxiliary verb is moved in front of the subject.
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They come in two types.
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Yes / no questions, such as: Am I about to be set free?
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And question-word questions, for example:
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What will happen to the show if I leave?
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You win this round.
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Well done, Agent Clarence and co.
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You may ask one question.
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What are you feeding him, you monster?
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Oh, nothing but the best I assure you.
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He's fibbing. It's nothing but bread and water!
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Bread and water?
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That's Les-lunacy!
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Sorry! We must get on!
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Round two is about subject questions.
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Question one.
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What is the difference between subject
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and object questions?
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Replace the noun or pronoun with a question word
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and use statement word order.
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Leslie?
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Strange answer Liz,
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but that is one way to make a subject question
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from a sentence.
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However, it doesn't answer Will, so no points.
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Subject questions are used when the question word
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represents the subject noun of the answer.
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For example: What happened? Nothing happened.
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With these questions, we do not invert the auxiliary verb and subject
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like we do with object questions.
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We use the verb like we would in a normal sentence
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and if the verb is changed to show a tense,
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that change remains.
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Excellent. Let's have an example.
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Look at these sentences and tell me which one is wrong.
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Who broke the window?
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What has happened to the house?
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What will become of us?
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Who does know?
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It's C because it has an auxiliary verb!
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Incorrect. That's a future simple subject question
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and perfectly right.
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D is wrong because an auxiliary verb is not needed.
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Leslie?
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Sorry, Agent Clarence.
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It's not always wrong.
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To add emphasis to subject questions,
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we stress the auxiliary.
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With certain tenses,
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such as the present simple,
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we can reintroduce the auxiliary verb
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so that it can be stressed.
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Sorry, Agent Clarence.
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No right answer, no question for you.
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On to our last round.
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And this is a true-or-false round.
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The category is reported questions.
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Here we go.
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This type of question does not switch
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the auxiliary verb and subject.
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True!
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Correct!
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Now try this:
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Reported yes/no questions are introduced
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using 'if' or 'whether'.
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True!
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Correct!
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Reported questions are written as sentences
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with no question mark.
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True!
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Correct!
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One more:
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Reported questions are often introduced
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with the verb 'ask'.
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For example: He asked me...
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True!
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Correct!
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Leslie?
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Reported questions do not switch the auxiliary verb
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and subject like object questions do.
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They are written as sentences
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and may be introduced by the verb 'ask',
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such as: 'They asked me...'.
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Finally, if the reported question has a yes or no answer,
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we need to use 'if' or 'whether' in its construction.
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And that brings us to the end of today's
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Grammar Gameshow.
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I've played your games long enough.
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Now, Leslie Licence, please!
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If you show me quickly, I might be more Les-lenient.
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Of course! But first,
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don't you want to ask Leslie what he wants to do?
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Leslie?
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If I left, who would answer the questions?
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Who would keep Will company?
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He's mean, but he's my friend.
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But he's horribly trapped!
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A trapped Leslie is just the way of the world.
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But without a Leslie licence, life would be chaos!
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Now, show me the Leslie Licence
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or I'll have to Les-litigate.
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Just this way Agent Clarence.
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It's down here…
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in the basement!
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And Liz,
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birds of a feather flock together.
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See where your curiosity has got you now,
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Agent Clarence.
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Release the cats!
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It looks like we'll need another two more contestants.
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Say goodbye, Leslie.
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Donadagohvi, Leslie
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See you next time, old friend.