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Reported Questions Sentence Structure 
 
Use statement word order (subject + verb), for all reported questions.
Do not use the auxiliaries, do, does, did. 
Do not end with a question mark. Indirect questions end with a period.
Example:
Susan: “Did Mark attend the presentation?” 
Susan asked if Mark attended the presentation.
 
Point out to the students that the first two rules are the same as they are for reported 
statements (what they learned in the last lesson).Verb tense change rules are also the 
same. 

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2 
PP4
Reporting verbs for questions: 
Ask (most common) 
Inquire 
Question 
Want to know
Wonder 
 
 
Practice Exercises 1 and 2 
Have the students do the exercises and check the answers together in class. 
 
Practice Exercise 3 
This is a speaking exercise. Students do part A with a partner and then part B with 
another pair, so that there are four people working together. When they have finished, 
you could ask some students to report to the class on their questions and answers.
 
 

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3 
Practice Exercise 1 
 
A. Read the following paragraph and underline the indirect questions.
Two visiting journalists from Afghanistan attended a public relations conference recently 
held in San Francisco. People had many questions for them. They wanted to know what 
daily life was like in Afghanistan. Was there enough food in all parts of the country? Did 
they have adequate electricity? There were also several questions about security. Was it 
safe to go out in the city streets where they lived? What about travelling? People at the 
conference also asked if the journalists felt their lives were in danger and wanted to know 
what their thoughts were on the upcoming election.
B. Change the underlined indirect questions in the paragraph above to direct questions.