Look at these examples to see how we can tell someone what another person asked.
direct speech: 'Do you work from home?' he said.
indirect speech: He asked me if I worked from home.
direct speech: 'Who did you see?' she asked.
indirect speech: She asked me who I'd seen.
direct speech: 'Could you write that down for me?' she asked.
indirect speech: She asked me to write it down.
Try this exercise to test your grammar.
- Grammar test 1
Read the explanation to learn more.
Grammar explanation
A reported question is when we tell someone what another person asked. To do this, we can use direct speech or indirect speech.
direct speech: 'Do you like working in sales?' he asked.
indirect speech: He asked me if I liked working in sales.
In indirect speech, we change the question structure (e.g. Do you like) to a statement structure (e.g. I like).
We also often make changes to the tenses and other words in the same way as for reported statements (e.g. have done → had done, today → that day). You can learn about these changes on the Reported speech 1 – statements page.
Yes/no questions
In yes/no questions, we use if or whether to report the question. If is more common.
'Are you going to the Helsinki conference?''Have you finished the project yet?'
- He asked me if I was going to the Helsinki conference.
- She asked us whether we'd finished the project yet.
Questions with a question word
In what, where, why, who, when or how questions, we use the question word to report the question.
'What time does the train leave?''Where did he go?'
- He asked me what time the train left.
- She asked where he went.
Reporting verbs
The most common reporting verb for questions is ask, but we can also use verbs like enquire, want to know or wonder.
'Did you bring your passports?''When could you get this done by?'
- She wanted to know if they'd brought their passports.
- He wondered when we could get it done by.
Offers, requests and suggestions
If the question is making an offer, request or suggestion, we can use a specific verb pattern instead, for example offer + infinitive, ask + infinitive or suggest + ing.
'Would you like me to help you?''Can you hold this for me, please?'
- He offered to help me.
'Why don't we check with Joel?'
- She asked me to hold it.
- She suggested checking with Joel.
Do this exercise to test your grammar again.
- Grammar test 2
Hello Rsb,
The sentence is grammatically correct. It treats the action of closing as something that the gate is capable of doing (rather than a person). You might use this when you are talking about an automated gate, for example, or a gate whose operator you cannot see.
Peter
The LearnEnglish Team
Hello Rsb
The first one is better, though in many cases you'd also need to use 'the': 'The gates are closing'.
All the best
Kirk
The LearnEnglish Team
Hello Rsb,
Finish is an ergative or labile verb, which means a verb which can be both transitive (requiring an objet) and intransitive (having no object). In this sentence it is intransitive. It is a past participle which is part of a present perfect form with the auxiliary has.
Peter
The LearnEnglish Team
Hello again Rsb,
The present perfect here describes an action in the past with a present result. The verb is dynamic and could be used in a continuous form, for example:
The gate is closing
The gate has been closing for ten minutes. It's very slow!
The same thing is true with the verb finish:
Peter
The LearnEnglish Team