Reporting Questions

Yes/no questions Question word questions

Are answered with a simple yes or no Begin with a verb like do, have, or are Do you like English? Are you from Singapore?

Begin with a question word like. . . Who? What? When? Where? Why? How? Where did you go over the holiday? Who is your class teacher? Why are you smiling?

To make a yes/no question into reported speech, you need to use if or whether: “Are you a student at the university?” He asked if you were a student at the university. He asked whether you were a student at the university.

To make a question word question into reported speech, you need to use the question word. “When will you be home?” My mom asked when I would be home. “Where did you go?” My teacher asked me where I went.

“Are you coming?” (verb-subject) He asked if I was coming. (subject-verb)

Change the verb tense. Change time and other references. Use the question word or if/whether, depending on the type of question. Change the word order from verb-subject to subject-verb. Change the question mark to a full stop.

‘Did he go?’ asked Rachel. Rachel asked if he had gone. ‘Will she ring back?’ I asked. I asked if she would ring back. ‘How did they get here?’ he asked. He asked how they had got there. The man asked, ‘What is your name?’ The man asked what his name was.