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Indirect questions (or interrogative content clauses) are subordinate clauses used within sentences to refer to a question (as opposed to direct questions, which are interrogative sentences themselves). An example of an indirect question is where Jack is in the sentence "I wonder where Jack is."
In English, wh-movement occurs in subordinate clauses to form an indirect question. While wh-fronting occurs in both direct and indirect questions, there is a key word order difference, [7] as illustrated with the following examples: a. Fred will ask Jill to leave. b. Whom will Fred ask to leave? – Direct question c. I wonder whom Fred will ...
An indirect question is expressed by changing the mood of the main verb from the indicative to the subjunctive. Some rhetoric questions change the verb to the accusative, followed by the infinitive, as if it were a real declarative statement in direct speech [17]). It is normally appropriate to retain the word that introduces the question, but ...
Indirect questions do not necessarily follow the same rules of grammar as direct questions. [11] For example, in English and some other languages, indirect questions are formed without inversion of subject and verb (compare the word order in "where are they?" and "(I wonder) where they are"). Indirect questions may also be subject to the ...
The examples and perspective in this article deal primarily with the ... An interrogative word or question word is a function ... and in indirect questions ...
Indirect questions which are dependent on a verb of asking in the classical period usually use a subjunctive verb. [81] (The indicative is found in early Latin and sometimes in poetry.) [82] When the context is past, as in the second example below, the tense of the quoted verb is usually changed to past in according with the sequence of tenses ...
Reported questions (as in the last of the examples) are also subject to the tense and other changes that apply generally in indirect speech. For more information see interrogative mood and English grammar. Indirect questions can serve as adjective and noun complements. Here, in English, they are generally introduced by a preposition, especially of:
For example, if a speaker asks, "Would you like to meet me for coffee?" and the other replies, "I have class", the second speaker has used an indirect speech act to reject the proposal. This is indirect because the literal meaning of "I have class" does not entail any sort of rejection. [citation needed]