[Grammar] Is it an indirect question?- Can you tell me who has taken my pen?

[Sahil Dhankhar]

This is not my homework.


Does it fall in the category of indirect question?
Is the given sentence grammatically correct?

1-Can you tell me who has taken my pen?

I think, indirect questions are the questions that uses indirect arrangement.
So I think that the above sentence sounds like a question in another question, which we generally don't do. (Example- 3- Can you tell me who are you? - wrong, 4- Can you tell me who you are? -right).
Therefore if it is correct that we don't ask question in another question, we should re-write the given sentence as-
2-Can you tell me by whom my pen has been taken?

So, basically, I want to know-
5- Can we ask a question in another question?
6- If yes then why we use indirect questions? If it is grammatical to use a question in another then sentence no. 3 should be right. Is it?

 

[jutfrank]

Does it fall in the category of indirect question?
Is the given sentence grammatically correct?

1-Can you tell me who has taken my pen?

Yes and yes.

I think, indirect questions are the questions that uses indirect arrangement.

Right.

So I think that the above sentence sounds like a question in another question, which we generally don't do. (Example- 3- Can you tell me who are you? - wrong, 4- Can you tell me who you are? -right).

Therefore if it is correct that we don't ask question in another question, we should re-write the given sentence as-
2-Can you tell me by whom my pen has been taken?

So, basically, I want to know-
5- Can we ask a question in another question?
6- If yes then why we use indirect questions? If it is grammatical to use a question in another then sentence no. 3 should be right. Is it?

This tells me that you are not familiar with the construction and use of indirect questions. Because of this lack of knowledge, your reasoning is wrong. See if you can find a good resource to help you study this tricky grammar point, and then come back to us.

 

[Sahil Dhankhar]

Could you help me by telling me where can I find a good source that can impart in depth knowledge?
Or
Could you help me by telling me where I can find a good source that can impart in depth knowledge?

 

[jutfrank]

Could you help me by telling me where I can find a good source that can impart in depth knowledge?

I would always recommend Grammar Monster: http://www.grammar-monster.com/glossary/indirect_questions.htm

And this video seems acceptable, too: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kROpJhy2Mmk

 

[Sahil Dhankhar]

I have studied some more and come to the conclusion that is given below. Kindly tell me whether I am right or not.

If there is a subject(other than the question word) in the question that we want to insert in the primary question to form an indirect question, we will use the indirect arrangement( To put the helping verb after the subject)
Example:- Who are you? Here, we have a subject(other than question word) "you" in the question and the indirect arrangement will be "who you are".
Therefore the indirect question using the above question will be as- Can you tell me who you are?
If there is no subject(other than the question word) in the question that we have to introduce into an indirect question, we will not form indirect arrangement and will add the question to the indirect question as such.
Example:- Who has taken my pen.
Therefore the indirect question will be formed by without using the indirect arrangement(as the indirect arrangement is not possible) as- Can you tell me who has taken my pen?

Please tell me, have I concluded it right?
Please tell me if I have concluded it right.

I think the above two sentences, however mean the same thing, but the second one is a sentence using an "indirect arrangement" and even if it in reality is not a question(as I haven't put question mark after it) it still falls under the category of indirect questions and the first one is a proper question and not an indirect question.

 

[Sahil Dhankhar]

I have tried some more indirect questions, please check them.

Question - Did you go to college?
Indirect question-
I want to know if you went to college.
Could you please tell me if you went to college?
Question- Why did you go to college?
Indirect question-
Please tell me why you went to college.
Could you please tell me why you went to college?

Question-Who has done this?
Indirect question-
I want to know who has done this. (Please tell me if I have correctly used the full stop in this sentence.)
Could you please tell me who has done this?
I want to know by whom this has been done. (Please tell me if I have correctly used the full stop in this sentence.)
Could you please tell me by whom this has been done?

 

[jutfrank]

Yes, good. I believe that you have come to the right conclusion and have learned things correctly. Well done.

To put it another way:

If the question word is the subject of the verb, then no syntactical change is necessary.

Direct: Who ordered the steak?
Indirect: Do you know who ordered the steak?

In the direct form, the question word Who is the subject of the verb ordered. This is called a subject question. It is not possible to alter the word order of subject questions when forming indirect questions.

 

[Sahil Dhankhar]

Thank you very much. I want some more favour of you.
1-Kindly reply to my post #6.
2- Kindly tell me if the punctuation marks used in the two red coloured sentences in post #5 are correct.
Also,
Which of the following is correct?
1-Who wants to take the books with him?
2- Who does want to take the books with him?

 

[GoesStation]

Which of the following is correct?
1-Who wants to take the books with him?
2- Who does want to take the books with him?

Number one. Two is possible in a dialog like this:

Teacher: Here are some books. Do any of you boys want to take them with you?
Jack: I don't.
Ben: I don't.
Teacher: Who does want to take the books with him?

 

[Rollercoaster1]

Number one. Two is possible in a dialog like this:

Teacher: Here are some books. Do any of you boys want to take them with you?
Jack: I don't.
Ben: I don't.
Teacher: Who does want to take the books with him?

Would it be also right to say "who else wants to take the books with him"?
I know it can mean that a few students have already taken the books and now the teacher is asking if anyone else wants to take the books.

 

[emsr2d2]

Would it also be [STRIKE]also[/STRIKE] right to say "Who else wants to take the books with him?"?
I know it can mean that a few students have already taken the books and now the teacher is asking if anyone else wants to take the books.

If all the students are male, you could just about get away with it. It's more likely for it to end with "them" though. Also, by saying "the books", you seem to be including all available books. If a few students have already taken "the books", there aren't any left for anyone else.

It would be more natural to hear "A few students have already taken [some] books. Who else wants to take some?"

 

[Sahil Dhankhar]

Sentence 2 falls in the category of emphatic use of helping verbs. Is it so?

 

[Sahil Dhankhar]

Someone, please help me on the following also, I have repeated it several times but none has paid attention.

1-Kindly reply to my post #6.
2- Kindly tell me if the punctuation marks used in the two red coloured sentences in post #5 are correct.

 

[jutfrank]

Someone, please help me on the following also, I have repeated it several times but none has paid attention.

1-Kindly reply to my post #6.
2- Kindly tell me if the punctuation marks used in the two red coloured sentences in post #5 are correct.

Post #6 is fine.

The punctuation marks in post #5 are correct.