Asking question is of utmost importance because we have to gather some information from it. There are different ways of asking questions and today we are going to discuss one such way.
As we know that we use declarative sentences are used to make a statement. But, do we know that they can also be used to ask questions ?, Yes we can use them to get the information we want using indirect questions.
Examples of Declarative Sentence Questions
Whether a sentence is open-ended or not, interrogative sentences always used to ask direct questions. While the case is different for the indirect questions, which are declarative sentences that report a question that was asked in some another context. for example:
- He asked if I am able to do the work.
Here the word “if” is used to set up the indirect question that is embedded in this declarative sentence. the purpose of this sentence is to report to someone other listener that he asked something, it is not to ask the question “Do you want to go to the show?”. Have a look at the differences between direct and indirect questions.
Let us see more examples :
- He asked if she is going to office.
- My dad asked if I am studying.
- She asked him if he is ready for the show.
So it is better whenever you want an answer to a question, it’s perfect to ask it in a direct manner, instead of creating an indirect question like “I am not sure If I could do it.” while you may still be clear with what you are trying to say, but it’s not the most preferred way and technically speaking it’s not an interrogative sentence.