Question about sentences

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Dear all,Kindly tell me whether the following sentence is correct. If wrong, please correct it.1) Could you please tell me what time did your mother call you yesterday?Thank you.

Rover_KE · Accepted Answer

cat navy 4251) Could you please tell me what time ~~did~~ your mother called you yesterday?

CalifJim · Answer

Statement. [Your mother called you yesterday] (at a certain time).
Direct question: What time did your mother call you yesterday?
Indirect question: what time [your mother called you yesterday]

An indirect question has the same word order as the statement, and that, unlike the other two forms above, an indirect question cannot stand alone. It must be embedded within another sentence. That's what we do here:

Could you please tell me [what time your mother called you yesterday]?

Other examples of embedding an indirect question:

I have no idea [what time your mother called you yesterday].
Nobody knows [what time your mother called you yesterday].
Tom was wondering [what time your mother called you yesterday].

CJ

BillJ · Answer

[1] Could you please tell me what time your mother called you yesterday.

[2] Could you please tell me what time did your mother call you yesterday.

In addition to what CJ said, there is something interesting that can be added.

Compare [1] and [2]. The only difference is in respect of subject-auxiliary inversion: [1] has the usual uninverted order while [2] has inverted order.

But that doesn't mean [2] is wrong; it's just a non-standard variety of English that is uncommon in BrE but (I believe) quite widespread in AmE in contexts of strong question-orientation.

The inverted construction in [2] represents a blurring of the distinction between subordinate and main clauses. It is not to be equated with the usual main clause construction since it contains indirect reported speech, not direct (as in Please tell me: What time did your mother call you yesterday?, so it's best to still treat it as a subordinate clause, recognising that in this variety inversion does not always distinguish main from subordinate clauses.

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