Placeholder Image

Subtitles section Play video

  • Hi. My name is Rebecca, and in today's lesson, we're going to talk about something called:

  • "Embedded Questions". Okay? Now, many English learners have a difficult time when they're

  • framing questions, because you have to change the word order. But embedded questions actually

  • require you to change the order back again, so they can be even more confusing, unless

  • you understand the principle. So, please make sure you pay attention to this one. A lot

  • of English students don't recognize that they're making a mistake because they've taken so

  • much trouble to learn the regular way of asking questions, that they don't realize that when

  • you have an embedded question, you need to change that order all over again. Okay?

  • So, what is an embedded question? An embedded question is not a question that you ask somebody

  • in bed. An embedded question is a question that is found inside another question, or

  • inside a sentence or statement. All right? So that's enough theory for now. Let's look

  • at the actual reality.

  • Okay, so let's take this regular question: "Where is the bank?" Right? You see I've written

  • the verb, "is" in red, and that's the regular way you would ask the question. You would

  • take the sentence, "The bank is somewhere", and say: "Where is the bank?"

  • However, when you add something like this before that, then the order at the end is

  • going to change. Let me show you what I mean. "Where is the bank?" Or: "Can you tell me

  • where the bank is?" That's the correct way to ask this question. We do not say:

  • "Can you tell me where was", or: "where is the bank?" All right? The original question by

  • itself if you ask it is: "Where is the bank?" But if you add something before it, like:

  • "Can you tell me", or: "Do you know", or: "Could you tell me", "Would you know", "Would

  • you happen to know", right? If you add one of these expressions before the rest of the

  • question, then the order changes back.

  • So, for example, you would say: "Do you know where the bank is?",

  • "Could you tell me where the bank is?",

  • "Would you happen to know where the bank is?" All right? So instead of saying:

  • "Where is the bank?" You say: "Where the bank is", if you have one of these expressions

  • before that. If you don't, then you stay with the regular question format.

  • Let's take another example. "Who was that man?" Okay? If you're only asking that much,

  • then that's fine. "Who was that man?" But if you're going to add one of these expressions

  • before, then we cannot say: "Would you know who was that man?" No. That's wrong. You would

  • need to say: "Would you know who that man was?" Okay? I know it seems a little bit confusing

  • if you haven't come across this before, but believe me, it's right. A lot of my students

  • ask me: "Are you sure?" Yes, I am sure.

  • So, let's look at it again. Now, one point, this happens not only when we add question

  • tags like this-okay?-but also in sentences. An embedded question can be in a sentence.

  • For example, you could say: "I know where the bank is." Or: "I don't know where the

  • bank is." We do not say: "I don't know where is the bank.

  • " You say: "I don't know where the bank is."

  • Or: "I don't remember who that man was." Okay? Or: "Would you know who that man was?"

  • You see what's happening? The order is changing. All right?

  • Now, let's take a couple of examples so that you can practice. Okay? I'm going to ask you

  • a question in the regular format, and you practice in your mind or wherever you are,

  • changing it to the way it should be because it's an embedded question. So let's take the

  • regular question: "How much was that cellphone?" Okay? "How much was that cellphone?" So now,

  • if we make it into an embedded question:

  • "Could you tell me how much the cellphone was?" Right?

  • "Could you tell me how much the cellphone was?"

  • Let's take another question. "How old is he?" That's a regular question. "How old is he?"

  • If you ask it as an embedded question, you could say:

  • "Would you happen to know how old he is?"

  • Not: "How old is he?" But: "Would you happen to know how old he is?" Okay?

  • One more practice question. "What time is the flight?" All right? By itself, that's

  • a regular question. "What time is the flight?" Or you could say:

  • "Do you know what time the flight is?" Okay?

  • Don't worry if you're feeling a little bit confused; it is a kind of a different kind

  • of concept to get your mind to wrap around, but you can do it. And I do recommend that

  • you practice that a lot. And if you go to our website you can find a quiz on this, www.engvid.com.

  • You'll see a quiz on this, you'll also find videos on various other topics in English.

  • Okay? So good luck with your English. I'm sure you can do it. All the best.

Hi. My name is Rebecca, and in today's lesson, we're going to talk about something called:

Subtitles and vocabulary

Click the word to look it up Click the word to find further inforamtion about it