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

    In last week's lesson, we looked at polite question forms like these:

    • Excuse me. Could you tell me where the toy department is?
    • Excuse me. Do you know how much these scarves are?
    • Do you know if Mary is coming to the party?

    Last week we mostly concentrated on questions with "be" verbs (is, are, was, were etc.) This week we will look at what happens when we make polite questions with other verb forms

    POLITE QUESTION FORMS WITH AUXILIARY VERBS (e.g. can, will, have)
    Look at the examples below:

    1. Where can I park my car?
    2. Excuse me. Could you tell me where I can park my car?

    1. Will the weather be OK tomorrow?
    2. Excuse me. Could you tell me if the weather will be OK tomorrow?

    1. Has the mail arrived yet?
    2. Excuse me. Do you know if the mail has arrived yet? (*See note below)

    In all three of the above cases, the simple (a) question has this structure:

      Auxiliary verb + Subject + Main Verb (has / the mail / arrived)

    In the more polite (b) questions, the order is:

      Wh- word or if + Subject + Auxiliary verb + Main verb (if / the mail / has / arrived)

    *NOTE:
    Have is an auxiliary verb when it appears in structures like Have you got a computer?
    or with a past participle as in Have you ever been to Hong Kong?
    However, in sentences like What time do you have breakfast? or Did you have a good time last night? it is a MAIN VERB and follows the pattern described in the next section.

    POLITE QUESTION FORMS WITH MAIN VERBS

    By main verbs, I mean all those English verbs (most of them) which require do, does, did when you make questions and negatives in simple past or present. For example:

    • What time does the next train to Manchester get here?

    In these cases, the more polite question is formed like this:

    1. What time does the next train to Manchester get here?
    2. Could you tell me what time the next train to Manchester gets here?

    1. Did the Manchester train leave on time this morning?
    2. Do you know if the Manchester train left on time this morning?

    The simple rule here is this:
    When the wh- word or if comes in the middle of the sentence, we drop the do auxiliary and use SUBJECT + MAIN VERB. Note also that the main verb must be in the appropriate tense (does...get becomes gets; did...leave becomes left).

    Exercise

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

    1. Will there be a committee meeting next Thursday?
    2. Have any messages arrived for me?
    3. Where can I buy an English newspaper?
    4. What time does the museum open?
    5. Do the shops close early on Sundays?
    6. Did yesterday's meeting start on time?

    Click here to check your answers.

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

    © Robert E. Jones, 2004