Conversational English - What are Embedded Questions?

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.