We use indirect questions to ask for help in the streets, at office, at work, because they are very polite. Therefore, you can also make polite requests using questions.
We use them when we talk to a person we don’t know really well, or in professional situations like office.
List of Phrases to Start Indirect Questions
Indirect questions use these different form of phrases as a prefix to make sentences more polite and soft.
- Can/Could you tell me…
- Do you know…
- I was wondering…
- Is there any chance…..
- Would you mind….
- Do you have any idea…
- I’d like to know…
- Would it be possible…
- Is there any chance…
- Do you have any Idea….
If we do not begin a question directly, but begin it with a phrase mentioned above like Do you know…? I wonder if…? The word order is the same as in an affirmative statement. Let us understand this with an example.
Direct question: Where are they ?
Indirect question: I wonder where they are?
Here we could help you out with a few examples that make use of these starting phrases available in the English language. You can keep practicing daily from your end to make sure that you ask questions properly. And we at EnglishBix are always there to help you succeed.