Indirect questions

Question

I'm doing an excercise in my textbook regarding indirect questions. The excercise says, "Correct the mistakes in the following sentences".

I've written the original questions below and my answer (Sometimes I did not correct anything because I think nothing is wrong)

a) Do you know how much does she weigh?
I think this is correct, or should it be do you know how much she weighs ?
b) I'd like to know how old was she when she joined the Spice Girls.

I'd like to know how old she was ...
c) I want to know if has she got any pets.
...if she has got ...
d) Have you any idea what does she think of Madonna?

This one really drives me mad ! I think it should be

Do you have any idea about what she thinks of Madonna?

O I'm exagerating things? It is possible to write a question "Have you an idea .. ?"
e) Could you tell me who are her favourite designers?

.. her faourite. designers are
f) Do you know why did she shave her head
.. why she shaved her head?
g) Could you tell me which football club does he play for?

i) Have you any idea which position does he play in?

j) I want to know what is his star sign
... his star sign is
I'm correct ? It should be an easy exercise, but I'm a bit puzzled ! Also, I've just noticed how silly these sentences are !

Usenet · Accepted Answer

Today, Kukrucho (Email Removed) abed:
[nq:1]I'm doing an excercise in my textbook regarding indirect questions. The excercise says, "Correct the mistakes in the following sentences". ... thinks of Madonna? O I'm exagerating things? It is possible to write a question "Have you an idea .. ?"[/nq]
Concerning "about": I, too, would add it. However, I keep seeing and hearing people use "have an idea" (in a sentence like yours) without "about". I suspect that dictionaries would still consider this nonstandard, but don't know.
"Have you any idea" is fine.
Michael Hamm
AM, Math, Wash. U. St. Louis
(Email Removed) Standard disclaimers: http://math.wustl.edu/~msh210/ ... legal.html

Usenet · Answer

[nq:1]I'm doing an excercise in my textbook regarding indirect questions. The excercise says, "Correct the mistakes in the following sentences". ... does she weigh? I think this is correct, or should it be do you know how much she weighs ?[/nq]
Your suggestion is correct. The original form a) might be heard in casual conversation, but I suspect is not strictly grammatical.
[nq:1]b) I'd like to know how old was she when she joined the Spice Girls. I'd like to know how old she was ... c) I want to know if has she got any pets. ...if she has got ...[/nq]
Yep & yep
[nq:1]d) Have you any idea what does she think of Madonna? This one really drives me mad ! I think it should be Do you have any idea about what she thinks of Madonna?[/nq]
The 'about' is not really necessary, at least in conversational English.
[nq:1]O I'm exagerating things? It is possible to write a question "Have you an idea .. ?"[/nq]
"Have you any idea..." is possible, but perhaps tends to be reserved for rhetorical questions (with a heavy emphasis on "any").

In contrast, "Have you an idea..." (which you wrote, presumably a typo) sounds very unnatural to me.
[nq:1]e) Could you tell me who are her favourite designers? .. her faourite. designers are f) Do you know why did she shave her head .. why she shaved her head?[/nq]
Yep & yep
[nq:1]g) Could you tell me which football club does he play for?[/nq]
Again, this sentence would possibly go unremarked in casual speech, but "...which football club he plays for?" is certainly preferable.
[nq:1]i) Have you any idea which position does he play in?[/nq]
Follow pattern of d) and g) to work this out.
[nq:1]j) I want to know what is his star sign ... his star sign is[/nq]
Yep.
[nq:1]I'm correct ? It should be an easy exercise, but I'm a bit puzzled ![/nq]
"Easy" depends entirely on how long you've been learning English. But going by the level of English in your post in general, then you seem to be coping with them fine. But I'm not an ESL teacher.

Usenet · Answer

[nq:1]I'm doing an excercise in my textbook regarding indirect questions. The excercise says, "Correct the mistakes in the following sentences". I've written the original questions below and my answer (Sometimes I did not correct anything because I think nothing is wrong)[/nq]
They are in fact all wrong.
In each case, the same mistake is made.
When a direct question is asked in English, the subject and the verb are interchanged from their normal positions in a statement:

He was tired. (statement)
Was he tired? (question)
But subject and verb are never interchanged in an indirect question.

She asked whether he was tired.
*She asked whether was he tired.
Check your answers. Occasionally you think that interchanging the subject and the verb is correct. That's where you make your mistakes.

-John Lawler http://www.umich.edu/~jlawler U Michigan Linguistics Dept But since it falls unto my lot that I should go and you should not, I'll gently rise and softly call "Good night, and joy be with you all." - "The Parting Glass" Irish traditional song

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[nq:2]I'm doing an excercise in my textbook regarding indirect questions. ... it be do you know how much she weighs ?[/nq]
[nq:1]Your suggestion is correct. The original form a) might be heard in casual conversation, but I suspect is not strictly grammatical.[/nq]
"Weighs" is singular and so is "she". Third person singular verbs generally end in "s" and plurals don't. Exactly the opposite of nouns.
[nq:2]b) I'd like to know how old was she when ... has she got any pets. ...if she has got ...[/nq]
[nq:1]Yep & yep[/nq]
[nq:2]d) Have you any idea what does she think of Madonna?[/nq]
Definately needs "thinks" but otherwise it works.
[nq:2]This one really drives me mad ! I think it should be Do you have any idea about what she thinks of Madonna?[/nq]
This one works even better. More idiomatic.

Astrological sign is more like to be used. I recall seeing a message on soc.penpals I think from a Russian woman who was "born in the galaxy of the lion" IIRC. (Note, it is called the constellation Leo. Galaxies are a bit bigger generally.)

Usenet · Answer

[nq:2]Your suggestion is correct. The original form a) might be heard in casual conversation, but I suspect is not strictly grammatical.[/nq]
[nq:1]"Weighs" is singular and so is "she". Third person singular verbs generally end in "s" and plurals don't. Exactly the opposite of nouns.[/nq]
Huh? What's that got to do with anything?
The choice is between "does she weigh?" (question) and "she weighs" (statement). There's no plurals anywhere.
Indirect questions should use the "statement" syntax structure to be correct, but in uncareful speech the "question" syntax occasionally slips through, even with native speakers, so that fragments like "...know(s) how much does it..." are not uncommon.

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But a constellation is a section of the sky as seen from Earth. A galaxy as seen from Earth would be extremely tiny compared to any of the constellations.
A term also used for "astrological sign" or "star sign" is "sun sign." The type of astrology which is featured in newspapers here in the US, for example, is "sun sign astrology."

Raymond S. Wise
Minneapolis, Minnesota USA
E-mail: mplsray @ yahoo . com

Usenet · Answer

[nq:2]"Weighs" is singular and so is "she". Third person singular verbs generally end in "s" and plurals don't. Exactly the opposite of nouns.[/nq]
[nq:1]Huh? What's that got to do with anything? The choice is between "does she weigh?" (question) and "she weighs" (statement). There's no plurals anywhere.[/nq]
I never said it did. I merely stated what I stated that '"Weighs" is singular and so is "she". Third person singular verbs (which "weighs" is) generally end in "s"' and then I add 'and plurals don't'. This sets up the next statement 'Exactly the opposite of nouns' which would come in handy with a common noun (though not useful with a pronoun like she or a proper noun).

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This is due to the relative distance. When I said bigger, I meant "contain a greater number of stars". I used generally because, AFAIK (not being an expert on astronomy), a single "star" (i.e. point of light) in a constellation might be many (example Alpha Centauri in the constellation Centaurus is actually 3 stars. Some "stars" might be an entire galaxy for all I know).
Thus a galaxy contains billion, whereas a constellation contains a few to a dozen, most of the time.

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[nq:1]Astrological sign is more like to be used. I recall seeing a message on soc.penpals I think from a Russian woman who was "born in the galaxy of the lion" IIRC. (Note, it is called the constellation Leo. Galaxies are a bit bigger generally.)[/nq]
Actually, it is more likely that it is the "sun sign" (more precisely, the "natal sun sign") rather than a general "star sign" that is intended.

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Martin Ambuhl filted:
[nq:2]Astrological sign is more like to be used. I recall ... called the constellation Leo. Galaxies are a bit bigger generally.)[/nq]
[nq:1]Actually, it is more likely that it is the "sun sign" (more precisely, the "natal sun sign") rather than a general "star sign" that is intended.[/nq]
Around 1970, most simply asked "what's your sign?"...in the rare event that the person addressed didn't understand what was meant, you could elaborate "you know, your zodiac"..r

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