Learn How to Use Embedded Questions to Ask Polite English Questions 🤔❓🤷

0:00 So this isn't the town where I normally record my English lessons.

0:04 So I don't know where everything is.

0:07 So if I wanted to find the bank, I could ask someone, where is the bank?

0:12 But this way of asking the question is very direct.

0:15 It's not impolite, it's not rude, but it's somewhere in between.

0:19 And it would be better to ask it using an embedded question.

0:23 It's better to say something like this, do you know where the bank is?

0:27 An embedded question is a question,

0:29 and it can also be a statement where there's the start

0:32 of the question and then there's a question inside of it,

0:35 or the start of the statement and then a question inside of it.

0:39 Do you know where the bank is?

0:41 That's a good example of an embedded question.

0:44 So, when I ask it that way, it just sounds a little more polite.

0:48 There's nothing wrong with the first one, where's the bank?

0:51 But listen to this.

0:52 If I walked up to someone and said, excuse me, where is the bank?

0:56 That sounds direct.

0:57 But if I said, excuse me, do you know where the bank is?

1:00 That sounds a little friendlier.

1:02 Here are a few more examples.

1:03 You could say something like this.

1:06 Do you know where the bathrooms are?

1:08 There's an example in the plural.

1:09 Or do you know where the CN Tower is?

1:12 It's not in this town.

1:13 It's in Toronto.

1:15 You can also put this into a statement.

1:17 If I was with Jen and we were both in this town,

1:20 I could say, I wonder where the bank is.

1:23 So you'll notice it's not a question, but it does have.

1:26 That statement does have a little question in it.

1:29 I wonder where the bank is.

1:31 By the way, the bank's right there.

1:33 I found it.

1:34 It wasn't that hard to find.

1:36 I have been to this town before.

1:38 But those are embedded questions.

1:40 Let's look at a few more.

1:42 At some point in our lives, we've all lost something.

1:45 In particular, I sometimes lose my car keys.

1:48 And when that happens, I might ask Jen this question.

1:51 I might say, Jen, where are my car keys?

1:54 But that question sounds a little direct to me.

1:57 It almost sounds like I'm accusing Jen of taking

2:00 my car keys and putting them somewhere else.

2:02 In my opinion, a much more polite way to ask a question would be this.

2:06 Jen, do you know where my car keys are?

2:09 Jen, do you know where my phone is?

2:10 Jen, do you know where my wallet is?

2:13 And if I wanted to create a statement

2:15 with an embedded question, I could say this.

2:18 I wonder where my car keys are?

2:20 This actually might be What I'm thinking as I'm looking for my car keys,

2:24 I wonder where my car keys are.

2:26 So if, I wanted to ask an embedded question politely,

2:29 I could say, do you know where my car keys are?

2:32 And if I wanted to use a statement, I could say, I wonder where my car keys are.

2:37 Let me give you an example of an embedded

2:39 question you can use to ask about a person.

2:41 Let's say you're, at work and there's some new

2:44 person walking around and you don't know who they are.

2:46 You could ask a colleague directly, who is that?

2:49 This is a non embedded question.

2:51 It's just a very direct question, who is that?

2:53 It's not rude, but it's not polite.

2:55 It's probably something you would ask.

2:58 But I think a better way to ask it would be to say this.

3:01 Do you know who that person is?

3:03 Or do you know who that is?

3:06 Again, this is an embedded question.

3:07 It starts with a question and it has a question inside of it.

3:11 Do you know who that person is?

3:13 Do you know who that is?

3:15 If you wanted to just lean over to a colleague

3:17 and use a statement, you could say this.

3:19 I wonder who that person is.

3:21 And then maybe your colleague hopefully knows

3:23 the answer and tells you, well, that's Jim!

3:25 He started here last week.

3:27 So once again, you can use an embedded question to also talk about people.

3:32 Speaking about forgetting things.

3:34 Sometimes I forget people's names.

3:36 If I haven't seen someone for a few years,

3:38 sometimes I don't remember what their name is.

3:41 And if I was with Jen, I might ask this question, what is his name?

3:45 Or what is her name?

3:47 But if I wanted to format it as an embedded question, I could say this.

3:50 Do you know what his name is?

3:52 Do you know what her name is?

3:54 Or do you remember what his name is?

3:56 Do you remember what her name is?

3:58 And if I wanted to create a statement

4:00 with an embedded question, I could say this.

4:02 I wonder what his name is.

4:03 I wonder what her name is.

4:05 That might be what I'm thinking as I drive

4:08 home after seeing someone whose name I couldn't remember,

4:11 and I might have even had a conversation with them.

4:14 I might be driving home thinking, I wonder what his name is.

4:17 I wonder what her name is.

4:19 So again, when you don't know someone's name,

4:21 that's how you would use the embedded question, do you know what his name is?

4:25 I wonder what her name is.

4:28 So in this English lesson, I gave you several examples of embedded questions,

4:31 but they all ended with is or are.

4:34 And there are plenty of other words

4:35 to choose from when you're using embedded questions.

4:38 Words like was or do or go or want.

4:41 Here are a few examples.

4:43 Let's say there was a loud noise.

4:44 I could ask this question, do you know what that was?

4:48 Let's say you're hooking something new up to your network at home.

4:51 And because I know a little bit about technology,

4:53 I might say, do you know what to do?

4:56 Let's imagine Jen and I are in a brand new city, a city that's unfamiliar to us.

5:01 I might ask Jen, do you know where we should go?

5:04 Maybe we're looking for a parking spot or something like that.

5:07 Or imagine you're at a restaurant and you're there with little kids.

5:11 Sometimes it takes little kids a while to decide what they want.

5:15 So you might ask this question, do you know what you want?

5:18 So there's four more embedded questions examples

5:20 that you can use in your next English conversation.

5:23 Well, thank you so much for watching

5:25 this English lesson about embedded questions.

5:27 I hope you were able to learn a few more

5:29 phrases that you can use in your next English conversation.

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5:48 Thanks for watching.

5:49 I'll see you next week with another English lesson.

5:51 Bye.