Could you tell me when...?
Do you happen to know if...?
(How to ask questions to strangers) Part One

    WH- QUESTIONS

    Imagine this situation: you are on holiday in an English-speaking country and you want to buy presents for your niece and nephew. You enter a department store and go up to the information desk. Which of these 2 questions is more polite?

    1. Excuse me. Where's the toy department?
    2. Excuse me. Could you tell me where the toy department is?

    Or you're walking around a British city centre and you're looking for a post office. You go up to a stranger and ask. Which question is more polite?

    1. Excuse me. Where's the nearest post office?
    2. Excuse me. Do you know where the nearest post office is?
      (Or if you want to be even more polite: Do you happen to know where...)

    Well, I think it's fairly easy to see that in both cases (b) is more polite. Excuse me. Where's the toy department? isn't really rude, but the (b) type question is probably more typically what we would say to a stranger.

    IMPORTANT GRAMMAR POINT:
    Now, look at the position of is in those questions:

    • Excuse me. Where's the toy department?
    • Excuse me. Could you tell me where the toy department is?

    • Excuse me. Where's the nearest post office?
    • Excuse me. Do you happen to know where the nearest post office is?

    Do you notice that in the more polite questions, we have where + subject + is? The basic rule that I give my students is this:

      If the question word (WHAT, WHERE, WHEN, WHO, HOW) comes in the middle of the sentence, the pattern is:

      QUESTION WORD + SUBJECT + VERB.

    YES / NO QUESTIONS

    In the previous section, we looked at questions which have words like WHAT, WHERE, WHEN, HOW. Now let's look at YES / NO questions (questions which begin with a verb and expect a yes / no answer). Here's how we can make these questions more polite:

    1. Excuse me. Is the number 10 bus due soon?
    2. Excuse me. Could you tell me if the number 10 bus is due soon?

    1. Excuse me. Can I catch the number 10 bus at this stop?
    2. Excuse me. Do you know if I can catch the number 10 bus at this stop?

    Can you see the pattern? ...if + subject + verb

    Try the exercise in the next section, to practise these question forms.

    Exercise

    Rewrite the following questions with Could you tell me... or Do you know...

    1. What time is the next train to Manchester?
    2. Where's the changing room?
    3. How much are these scarves?
    4. How can I get to the town hall from here?
    5. What's the weather forecast for tomorrow?
    6. Is Mary coming to the party?
    7. Are there any tickets left for the Friday afternoon performance?

    Click here to check your answers.

    Please note that in this lesson, I have looked at questions containing is, are and can. In next week's lesson, I will look at how we use polite question forms with other verbs.

    Click here if you want to try some of my other one-point lessons.

    © Robert E. Jones, 2004