Indirect questions are considered more formal and polite than direct questions when speaking to strangers. They use polite phrases like "Do you know...", "Could you tell me...", or "May I ask you..." followed by a normal question. Some examples show how direct questions can be made more polite by changing them to indirect questions through the addition of a polite request before the question. Indirect questions follow the pattern of a polite request plus a wh- question or question using if/whether.

1. ASKING QUESTION WITH “INDIRECT QUESTIONS”

2. WHAT ARE INDIRECT QUESTIONS? Indirect questions are normal questions that serve the same purpose as direct questions, but are considered more formal and more polite.

3. DID YOU KNOW? Direct questions are often considered rude when speaking to strangers. If we want to be more polite, we can use “INDIRECT QUESTIONS”

4. SOME KIND OF POLITE REQUEST Do you know… Can/could you tell me… Can I ask… May I ask you… Do you mind if I ask you… I wonder if you could tell me… I’d like to know… Would you be able to… Do you remember… Have you any idea… Do you think… I can’t remember if/whether… Would it be possible for you to… Is it possible for me… I don’t suppose you could… I can’t imagine that you…

5. THE PATTERN Polite request + wh/if/whether + positive/negative sentence Polite requests + direct questions

6. EXAMPLES… Direct questions Indirect questions What is he doing? Do you know what is he doing? Where can I sit? Could you tell me where can I sit? Where do you live? May I ask you where do you live? What is this? Do you know what is this? What is your last name? May I know what is your last name?

7. CONLUSION Usually, the direct question has no change when it changed to indirect question. But, we can also replace it according to the conditions.