Learn How to Use Embedded Questions to Ask Polite English Questions 🤔❓🤷 — Transcript

Full transcript

1. 0:00So this isn't the town where I
2. 0:02normally record my English lessons.
3. 0:04So I don't know where everything is.
4. 0:07So if I wanted to find
5. 0:08the bank, I could ask
6. 0:10someone, where is the bank?
7. 0:12But this way of asking
8. 0:13the question is very direct.
9. 0:15It's not impolite, it's not rude,
10. 0:18but it's somewhere in between.
11. 0:19And it would be better to ask
12. 0:21it using an embedded question.
13. 0:23It's better to say something like
14. 0:24this, do you know where the bank is?
15. 0:27An embedded question is a question,
16. 0:29and it can also be a statement
17. 0:31where there's the start of the
18. 0:33question and then there's a
19. 0:34question inside of it, or the start
20. 0:36of the statement and then a
21. 0:37question inside of it.
22. 0:39Do you know where the bank is?
23. 0:41That's a good example
24. 0:42of an embedded question.
25. 0:44So, when I ask it that way, it
26. 0:46just sounds a little more polite.
27. 0:48There's nothing wrong with
28. 0:50the first one, where's the bank?
29. 0:51But listen to this.
30. 0:52If I walked up to someone and said,
31. 0:54excuse me, where is the bank?
32. 0:56That sounds direct.
33. 0:57But if I said, excuse me, do
34. 0:58you know where the bank is?
35. 1:00That sounds a little friendlier.
36. 1:02Here are a few more examples.
37. 1:03You could say something like this.
38. 1:06Do you know where the bathrooms are?
39. 1:08There's an example in the plural.
40. 1:09Or do you know where the CN Tower is?
41. 1:12It's not in this town.
42. 1:13It's in Toronto.
43. 1:15You can also put this
44. 1:16into a statement.
45. 1:17If I was with Jen and we were both
46. 1:20in this town, I could say,
47. 1:21I wonder where the bank is.
48. 1:23So you'll notice it's not
49. 1:24a question, but it does have.
50. 1:26That statement does have
51. 1:27a little question in it.
52. 1:29I wonder where the bank is.
53. 1:31By the way, the bank's right there.
54. 1:33I found it.
55. 1:34It wasn't that hard to find.
56. 1:36I have been to this town before.
57. 1:38But those are embedded questions.
58. 1:40Let's look at a few more.
59. 1:42At some point in our lives,
60. 1:43we've all lost something.
61. 1:45In particular,
62. 1:46I sometimes lose my car keys.
63. 1:48And when that happens, I
64. 1:49might ask Jen this question.
65. 1:51I might say, Jen, where are my car keys?
66. 1:54But that question sounds
67. 1:55a little direct to me.
68. 1:57It almost sounds like I'm accusing
69. 1:59Jen of taking my car keys
70. 2:00and putting them somewhere else.
71. 2:02In my opinion, a much more polite way
72. 2:04to ask a question would be this.
73. 2:06Jen, do you know where
74. 2:08my car keys are?
75. 2:09Jen, do you know where my phone is?
76. 2:10Jen, do you know where my wallet is?
77. 2:13And if I wanted to create
78. 2:15a statement with an embedded
79. 2:16question, I could say this.
80. 2:18I wonder where my car keys are?
81. 2:20This actually might be What
82. 2:21I'm thinking as I'm looking
83. 2:23for my car keys,
84. 2:24I wonder where my car keys are.
85. 2:26So if, I wanted to ask an embedded
86. 2:28question politely, I could say, do
87. 2:30you know where my car keys are?
88. 2:32And if I wanted to use
89. 2:33a statement, I could say, I wonder
90. 2:35where my car keys are.
91. 2:37Let me give you an example
92. 2:38of an embedded question you can use
93. 2:40to ask about a person.
94. 2:41Let's say you're, at work and there's
95. 2:43some new person walking around
96. 2:44and you don't know who they are.
97. 2:46You could ask a colleague
98. 2:48directly, who is that?
99. 2:49This is a non embedded question.
100. 2:51It's just a very direct
101. 2:52question, who is that?
102. 2:53It's not rude, but it's not polite.
103. 2:55It's probably something
104. 2:57you would ask.
105. 2:58But I think a better way
106. 3:00to ask it would be to say this.
107. 3:01Do you know who that person is?
108. 3:03Or do you know who that is?
109. 3:06Again, this is an embedded question.
110. 3:07It starts with a question
111. 3:09and it has a question inside of it.
112. 3:11Do you know who that person is?
113. 3:13Do you know who that is?
114. 3:15If you wanted to just lean over
115. 3:16to a colleague and use
116. 3:17a statement, you could say this.
117. 3:19I wonder who that person is.
118. 3:21And then maybe your colleague
119. 3:22hopefully knows the answer
120. 3:24and tells you, well, that's Jim!
121. 3:25He started here last week.
122. 3:27So once again, you can use
123. 3:28an embedded question to also
124. 3:30talk about people.
125. 3:32Speaking about forgetting things.
126. 3:34Sometimes I forget people's names.
127. 3:36If I haven't seen someone
128. 3:38for a few years, sometimes I don't
129. 3:39remember what their name is.
130. 3:41And if I was with Jen, I might ask
131. 3:43this question, what is his name?
132. 3:45Or what is her name?
133. 3:47But if I wanted to format
134. 3:48it as an embedded
135. 3:49question, I could say this.
136. 3:50Do you know what his name is?
137. 3:52Do you know what her name is?
138. 3:54Or do you remember what his name is?
139. 3:56Do you remember what her name is?
140. 3:58And if I wanted to create
141. 3:59a statement with an embedded
142. 4:01question, I could say this.
143. 4:02I wonder what his name is.
144. 4:03I wonder what her name is.
145. 4:05That might be what I'm thinking
146. 4:07as I drive home after seeing someone
147. 4:10whose name I couldn't
148. 4:11remember, and I might have even
149. 4:12had a conversation with them.
150. 4:14I might be driving home thinking,
151. 4:15I wonder what his name is.
152. 4:17I wonder what her name is.
153. 4:19So again, when you don't know
154. 4:20someone's name, that's how you
155. 4:22would use the embedded question,
156. 4:23do you know what his name is?
157. 4:25I wonder what her name is.
158. 4:28So in this English lesson, I
159. 4:29gave you several examples
160. 4:30of embedded questions, but they
161. 4:32all ended with is or are.
162. 4:34And there are plenty of other words
163. 4:35to choose from when you're
164. 4:36using embedded questions.
165. 4:38Words like was or do or go or want.
166. 4:41Here are a few examples.
167. 4:43Let's say there was a loud noise.
168. 4:44I could ask this question,
169. 4:46do you know what that was?
170. 4:48Let's say you're hooking
171. 4:49something new up to your network at home.
172. 4:51And because I know a little bit
173. 4:53about technology, I might
174. 4:54say, do you know what to do?
175. 4:56Let's imagine Jen and I are
176. 4:58in a brand new city, a city
177. 4:59that's unfamiliar to us.
178. 5:01I might ask Jen, do you
179. 5:02know where we should go?
180. 5:04Maybe we're looking for a parking
181. 5:06spot or something like that.
182. 5:07Or imagine you're at a restaurant
183. 5:09and you're there with little kids.
184. 5:11Sometimes it takes little kids
185. 5:13a while to decide what they want.
186. 5:15So you might ask this question,
187. 5:16do you know what you want?
188. 5:18So there's four more embedded
189. 5:19questions examples that you can use
190. 5:21in your next English conversation.
191. 5:23Well, thank you so much
192. 5:24for watching this English lesson
193. 5:26about embedded questions.
194. 5:27I hope you were able to learn a few
195. 5:29more phrases that you can use
196. 5:30in your next English conversation.
197. 5:32If this is your first time
198. 5:33here, don't forget to click
199. 5:34the subscribe button.
200. 5:34Give me a thumbs up.
201. 5:35Leave a comment below and please
202. 5:37do consider becoming a member.
203. 5:39There are more and more exciting
204. 5:40things for members on this channel.
205. 5:42There's a Join button below
206. 5:43or a subscribe plus button.
207. 5:45If you click that, you can get
208. 5:46a little bit more information.
209. 5:48Thanks for watching.
210. 5:49I'll see you next week
211. 5:50with another English lesson.
212. 5:51Bye.