How to Make Embedded Questions | Learn English Grammar for Beginners

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0:08 hi everybody my name is Alicia in this

0:10 video I'm going to talk about how to

0:12 make embedded questions in English let's

0:15 get started first let's take a look at

0:18 what an embedded question even is what

0:21 is an embedded question an embedded

0:23 question is a question inside another

0:27 question or inside a sentence embedded

0:30 questions are used to make questions

0:33 softer or more polite so in this lesson

0:36 I'm going to compare embedded questions

0:39 questions that are inside something else

0:41 with direct questions so we can see how

0:45 we need to change the questions in order

0:48 to make this inside type of question so

0:51 let's start by making these two sets so

0:55 the first one is this direct question

0:57 set so here are some samples of just

1:00 very very basic direct questions what

1:03 time does the bus leave what time does

1:06 the bus leave very basic question

1:07 information Asian question right or who

1:10 ate my sandwich who ate my sandwich

1:12 again very simple basic question one

1:16 more what is the password what is the

1:19 password these are simple basic direct

1:21 questions then let's compare this to

1:25 embedded questions so let's change these

1:29 direct questions and put them inside

1:31 another question or another statement

1:34 and let's take a look at what happens to

1:36 the questions when we do this so the

1:39 first direct question was what time does

1:42 the bus leave in an embedded question

1:44 for example we could say can you tell me

1:48 what time the bus leaves can you tell me

1:51 what time the bus leaves so you can see

1:53 this question what time the bus leaves

1:57 is different from the direct question

1:59 what time does the bus leave we have

2:02 different word order and different words

2:05 used here we're going to talk about why

2:08 this is in the middle of today's lesson

2:11 let's look for the time being at the

2:14 second example though who ate my

2:16 sandwich in this direct form and in the

2:19 embedded form do you know who ate my

2:22 sandwich do you know who ate my sandwich

2:24 so here we have do you know to introduce

2:27 the embedded question and in this case

2:30 we have who ate my sandwich no change

2:32 there's a reason for this as well we'll

2:34 talk about later lastly what is the

2:38 password what is the password in an

2:40 embedded question it might look like

2:42 this I'd like to know what the password

2:45 is I'd like to know what the password is

2:48 so again this part the question what the

2:51 password is this is different from what

2:54 is the password so we're going to break

2:56 down the reasons for these changes and

2:58 introduce the rules so that you can make

3:01 your own embedded questions first let's

3:03 start by looking at this type of

3:06 sentence what is the past work this is

3:09 an example of a direct question that

3:11 uses the verb be so to be meaning is or

3:16 are or was or were when you have a

3:19 question that uses the be verb we need

3:22 to follow a certain type of rule and

3:25 that is we move the B verb after the

3:28 subject when we make an embedded

3:30 question so for example when we saw

3:34 what is the password we needed to change

3:36 that in our embedded question so the

3:39 verb comes after the subject this is

3:42 what we see here I'd like to know what

3:45 the password is so in this case the verb

3:48 comes after the subject the password

3:50 this is the same rule we need to follow

3:52 for other questions that use the beaver

3:56 so let's take a look at three more

3:58 examples first where are the car keys

4:02 where are the car keys here is my be

4:04 verb so we need to move this after the

4:08 subject to create an embedded question

4:10 here's my sample can you tell me where

4:14 the car keys are so here is my embedded

4:18 question I'm starting the question can

4:20 you tell me and the basic question is

4:23 here the direct question is here with

4:24 the new grammar can you tell me where

4:27 the car keys are so a very common

4:30 mistake is Learners don't move the be

4:33 verb to the end or to after the subject

4:36 can you tell me where are the car keys

4:38 is incorrect make sure to move it to the

4:41 after point the after subject Point okay

4:44 let's look at the next example how long

4:46 is the movie how long is the movie here

4:49 the be verb is is so we need to move

4:52 this after the subject here's our sample

4:55 embedded question with this grammar do

4:58 you know how long the movie is do you

5:01 know introduces the embedded question

5:03 how long the movie is again we moved is

5:08 from this position before the subject to

5:11 this position after the subject one more

5:13 example of this why is the city so polluted why is the

5:18 city so polluted polluted means it's

5:21 filled with maybe dirt trash it's poor

5:24 quality air and so on so why is the city

5:27 so polluted again we have this be verb

5:31 here and here's our subject the city so

5:33 here's a sample embedded question I

5:36 wonder why the city is so polluted I

5:40 wonder why the city is so polluted so

5:43 please note we don't move the be verb

5:45 always to the end of the sentence we

5:48 move it after the subject like we see

5:51 here the city is our subject so we put

5:54 it after the subject in this position I

5:57 wonder why the city is so polluted also

5:59 another thing that's important to note

6:01 that you can see here is that although

6:04 these are called embedded questions

6:06 because there's a question inside

6:08 something else we don't always need to

6:11 use a question mark at the end in this

6:13 case and in this case we're we're asking

6:16 a question right can you tell me and do

6:19 you know but this one I wonder it's like

6:22 we're thinking about something I wonder

6:24 why this is not a question so we use a

6:27 period at the end of this so keep this

6:29 in mind sometimes it's a question and we

6:32 should use a question mark sometimes

6:34 it's not so just use a period or maybe

6:36 an exclamation point okay great so this

6:40 is our first point about be embedded

6:42 questions embedded questions that use B

6:44 now let's take a look at another thing

6:47 we need to consider that's when our

6:49 question uses the auxiliary or the

6:52 helping verb do so we saw an example of

6:55 this here what time does the bus leave

6:58 we saw this here here's my verb our

7:00 auxiliary does we change this to can you

7:04 tell me what time the bus leaves so in

7:06 this part you might notice there's no

7:08 does right why is that that's because of

7:11 an interesting rule we need to consider

7:14 so in these cases we remove that we

7:17 remove that do or does or did and we use

7:21 the verb the other verb that's in the

7:24 question so what does this look like

7:25 here are a couple of quick examples our

7:28 direct question where did he go where

7:32 did he go in this case we have past

7:34 tense yeah did right and our verb here

7:38 is go right so to follow this rule we

7:41 need to remove this auxiliary this

7:44 helping word and we use the verb that's

7:48 in the question instead we also need to

7:50 make sure this change uses the same

7:53 tense as the original helping verb so

7:56 what does this look like here's a sample

7:59 do you know where he went do you know

8:02 where he went so do you know introduces

8:06 the question where he went we use went

8:10 because it's the past tense form of the

8:13 verb that was in the question before we

8:15 have no did here so not do you know

8:18 where did he went incorrect that's a

8:20 very common type of mistake I see with

8:22 Learners do you know where he went it's

8:26 the perfect way to create this type of

8:28 embedded question let's look at one more

8:30 example what time does she start work what time

8:34 does she start work so again we have

8:37 does here does all right so we need to

8:40 remove that and we have this start in

8:44 this case we have the verb start so

8:46 what's a sample sentence here

8:48 I'm not sure what time she starts work

8:52 I'm not sure what time so we have this

8:55 part Remains the Same what time she

8:58 starts work so we have our verb here

9:02 matching the tense of the sentence in

9:04 this case this is a present tense

9:07 sentence right so we have the present

9:09 tense verb structure applied she starts

9:13 work right so keep in mind we always

9:16 have to use the same tense that does is

9:19 used in the original question but we

9:22 have to remove that does and use that

9:24 tense for the verb that's actually in

9:27 the sentence so this one can be a little

9:29 bit tricky to remember it's kind of a

9:31 special grammar point but this is how we

9:33 use the do verb rule with embedded

9:37 questions okay great so one more quick

9:40 point about this is if you have a

9:43 question like this who ate my sandwich

9:45 there's no beaver and there's no do verb

9:47 like lucky you there's no change so who

9:50 ate my sandwich a question like this

9:53 that doesn't have this verb or this verb

9:55 doesn't require any change we can simply

9:58 use it in the embedded question as it is

10:01 who ate my sandwich can be put into the

10:04 embedded question with no changes so

10:06 that's the one that's easy to remember

10:08 so be and do questions are the ones you

10:12 really need to think about okay great

10:14 let's move on to the last part for this

10:17 lesson yes or no questions so sometimes

10:20 we have questions that don't have a

10:22 question word like who what where when

10:25 how long and so on these are simple yes

10:28 or no questions so if there is no

10:31 question word in this sentence you can

10:33 create the embedded question with

10:36 whether or if so if or whether we start

10:39 the embedded question with that so what

10:42 does that look like let's take a look at

10:44 some very simple examples here are they

10:47 hungry or was he angry or is this

10:51 vegetarian so none of these have a who

10:54 what where when why question right

10:55 simple yes no so how do we make an

10:58 embedded question with these

11:00 first one are they hungry okay here's a

11:03 sample question let's ask if they're

11:06 hungry let's ask if they're hungry this

11:09 is our embedded question if they are

11:12 hungry yeah okay next one was he angry

11:16 was he angry do you know if he was angry do you know

11:21 if he was angry if he was angry okay and

11:25 the third one is this vegetarian so

11:28 meaning is this Food Vegetarian could

11:31 you tell me introduces the question

11:33 could you tell me if this is vegetarian

11:38 could you tell me if this is vegetarian

11:40 oh yes it is or no it isn't so keep in

11:43 mind we can use whether or if but

11:45 generally if tends to sound a little bit

11:48 more casual a little bit more commonly

11:50 used in everyday conversation you may

11:53 hear people using weather in this

11:55 position too another point to consider

11:58 you might have noticed that we changed

12:00 the B verb position here as well yeah so

12:04 for example are they hungry because they

12:06 are hungry and was he angry becomes he

12:11 was angry right so we still have to

12:13 change the position of the B verb here

12:16 and we add this if if or whether before

12:20 the embedded question okay so this is

12:22 another important grammar point to keep

12:24 in mind with practice it becomes easier

12:27 and there are some embedded questions

12:28 that are very very common for example

12:30 could you tell me where the restroom is

12:32 there are some that you will use a lot

12:34 and they will become easier over time so

12:37 the very last point that I want to make

12:39 is about these starting phrases here so

12:43 these starting phrases we've looked at

12:45 in today's lesson these are some

12:48 examples of phrases we've very commonly

12:50 use to begin our embedded questions so

12:53 for example do you know we looked at

12:56 this earlier many times do you know

12:58 something or can or could you tell me

13:01 can you tell me or could you tell me

13:04 could will sound a little bit more pull

13:06 it let's ask or let's find out or let's see

13:11 we can use these as well we saw this

13:14 here let's ask if they're hungry let's

13:16 find out if they're hungry let's see if

13:18 they're hungry so this is suggesting let

13:21 us do this thing we want to find out

13:23 some information the next one is I wonder I wonder we saw

13:27 this here I wonder why the city is so

13:30 polluted so we can use this to kind of

13:32 think out loud and the last two I'm not

13:35 sure I'm not sure we saw this here I'm

13:39 not sure what time she starts work so we

13:42 can use this to express some uncertainty

13:44 and the last one I'd like to know I'd

13:48 like to know so when you want to

13:50 politely request information I'd like to

13:53 know what time the bus leaves and so on

13:55 so these are just some examples there

13:57 are some more as well but these are very

13:59 very common so I hope that this lesson

14:02 helped you understand what embedded

14:04 questions are why we use them to sound a

14:06 little bit more polite or to sound a

14:08 little bit less direct and I hope that

14:10 you are able to make your own embedded

14:12 questions following the rules we talked

14:14 about in this lesson of course if you

14:17 have any questions or comments or if you

14:19 want to practice making some sentences

14:21 with this grammar please feel free to do

14:23 so in the comment section of this video

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