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Paul Evdokimov Posted 10 years ago
Grammar
Indirect Qs with 'Do you think....'
Hi there,
As the general rule lays it out for 'yes/no' direct questions, we've got to use 'if/whether' to make them indirect.
It works fine with "Do you know...", ''Do you have any idea...", "Could you tell me ...", but never have I seen either any examples with "Do you think...", or any comments referring to the usage of it in the main clause... I wonder why...Or is the general rule also applicable to "Do you think ..." questions?
(Direct Q) "Do they speak French?"
(Indirect Q) "Do you think they speak French"?
(???) "Do you think IF/WHETHER they speak French?"
Thanks for your comments.
As the general rule lays it out for 'yes/no' direct questions, we've got to use 'if/whether' to make them indirect.
It works fine with "Do you know...", ''Do you have any idea...", "Could you tell me ...", but never have I seen either any examples with "Do you think...", or any comments referring to the usage of it in the main clause... I wonder why...Or is the general rule also applicable to "Do you think ..." questions?
(Direct Q) "Do they speak French?"
(Indirect Q) "Do you think they speak French"?
(???) "Do you think IF/WHETHER they speak French?"
Thanks for your comments.
Top answer
" "Do you think" doesn't take an indirect question as a complement, so you can't have the sentence above. "that" is understood if it is omitted. " CJ
- " "Do you think" doesn't take an indirect question as a complement, so you can't have the sentence above.
- "that" is understood if it is omitted.
- " CJ
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3 Answers
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Paul Evdokimov"Do you think IF/WHETHER they speak French?""Do you think" doesn't take an indirect question as a complement, so you can't have the sentence above.
"that" is understood if it is omitted. "Do you think that they speak French?"
CJ
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I wonder why "Do you know ...", which is very close to "Do you think ..." in terms of meaning of this 'polite clause', can follow both patterns ('that-clause' and 'if/whether-clause') while the latter can't...
"Do you know if/whether they speak French?" -> implying that the speaker doesn't know the answer to the question posed.
"Do you know that they speak French?" -> implying t
"Do you know if/whether they speak French?" -> implying that the speaker doesn't know the answer to the question posed.
"Do you know that they speak French?" -> implying t
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Paul EvdokimovWhat makes 'think' so different compared to 'know"?Interesting question. I suppose it's because you can know the answer to a question, but you can't think the answer to a question; you can only think a thought, and a thought has a content that is like a statement, so "think" goes with "say" more than with "know".
I said that I spent
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