7.34 'wh'-questions

The other type of question is called a 'wh'-question. These are questions in which someone asks for information about an event or situation. 'Wh'-questions cannot be answered with 'yes' or 'no'.

When you report a 'wh'-question, you use a 'wh'-word at the beginning of the reported clause.

• He asked where I was going.
• She enquired why I was so late.
• She leaned over the stairs and called down to ask what had happened.
• I asked how they liked the film.
• It never occurred to me to ask who put it there.

When the details of the question are clear from the context, you can sometimes leave out everything except the 'wh'-word. This happens mostly in spoken English, especially with 'why'.

• I asked why.
• They enquired how.

For more information about 'wh'-questions see paragraphs 4.17 to 4.30.

7.35

Other verbs can be used before clauses beginning with 'wh'-words, because they refer to knowing, learning, or giving one of the circumstances of an event or situation.

• She doesn't know what we were talking about.
• They couldn't see how they would manage without her.
• I wonder what's happened.

Here is a list of other verbs which can be used before clauses beginning with 'wh'-words:

• decide, describe, discover, discuss, explain, forget, guess, imagine, know, learn, realize, remember, reveal, say, see, suggest, teach, tell, think, understand, wonder

Note that 'imagine', 'say', 'see', 'suggest', and 'think' are usually used in a negative or interrogative clause, or a clause with a modal.

All the verbs in the list, except 'describe', 'discuss', and 'wonder', can also be used with 'that'-clauses: see paragraph 7.27.