Word order

[Deepurple]

Dear teachers,

I would like to know if the word order in the following sentence is correct:
"The question is whose ideas was it in the first place?"

Is it an indirect question, so that it should read as:
"The question is whose ideas it was in the first place?"

Thank you very much.

 

[emsr2d2]

Dear teachers,

I would like to know if the word order in the following sentence is correct:
"The question is whose ideas was it in the first place?"

Is it an indirect question, so that it should read as:
"The question is whose ideas it was in the first place?"

Thank you very much.

If you report the direct speech, then it's:

The question is, "Whose idea was it in the first place?"

If it's indirect speech, it's:

The question is whose idea it was in the first place.

As you can see, you only use a question mark in the first example, because the actual question is quoted. In the second you are simply making a statement "The question is..." so it should simply finish with a full stop.

 

[Nightmare85]

**Neither a teacher nor a native speaker.**

And remember to use the word were when you're talking about ideas ;-)
(So I guess it gets replaced with they as well?)

Cheers!

 

[emsr2d2]

**Neither a teacher nor a native speaker.**

And remember to use the word were when you're talking about ideas ;-)
(So I guess it gets replaced with they as well?)

Cheers!

Yes, in the plural it would become:

The question is, "Whose ideas were they in the first place?"

The question is whose ideas they were in the first place.

 

[sbrodsky]

If you report the direct speech, then it's:

The question is, "Whose idea was it in the first place?"

If it's indirect speech, it's:

The question is whose idea it was in the first place.

As you can see, you only use a question mark in the first example, because the actual question is quoted. In the second you are simply making a statement "The question is..." so it should simply finish with a full stop.

---------Neither a teacher nor a native speaker-----------

You can also write like this:

The question is, whose idea was it in the first place?

Am I wrong?
Thank you.

 

[sbrodsky]

If you report the direct speech, then it's:

The question is, "Whose idea was it in the first place?"

If it's indirect speech, it's:

The question is whose idea it was in the first place.

As you can see, you only use a question mark in the first example, because the actual question is quoted. In the second you are simply making a statement "The question is..." so it should simply finish with a full stop.

I have a little more difficult question.
Is the following sentence a statement or just a polite question?

I am calling to ask you what the number of the last invoice is.

It is very close to:

I wonder what the number of the last invoice is?

Thank you.

 

[SoothingDave]

I have a little more difficult question.
Is the following sentence a statement or just a polite question?

I am calling to ask you what the number of the last invoice is.

It is very close to:

I wonder what the number of the last invoice is?

Thank you.

Neither of those are questions. They are both statements.

(Grammatically, that is. They both would be understood as requests for information.)

 

[sbrodsky]

Neither of those are questions. They are both statements.

(Grammatically, that is. They both would be understood as requests for information.)

So, should we put the question mark at the end:

I am calling to ask you what the number of the last invoice is.
I wonder what the number of the last invoice is?

Thank you.

 

[SoothingDave]

No question marks. They are not questions.

 

[sbrodsky]

No question marks. They are not questions.

sbrodsky:
So, should we put the question mark at the end:
I am calling to ask you what the number of the last invoice is.
I wonder what the number of the last invoice is?
Thank you.

SoothingDave:
No question marks. They are not questions.

sbrodsky:
But some English forums
(for example, http://www.eslbase.com/grammar/indirect-questions)
recommend to put "?" here:
I wonder where they have been?
I was wondering if you could tell me what time is it?

Though, the last sentence is not correct (on my opinion):
I WAS - time IS.

Some of them treat this kind of sentence as a polite question:
I wonder what the number of the last invoice is?

So, I am lost. Please help.
Thank you.

 

[SoothingDave]

From your link:

Getting students to transform real questions into indirect questions is very confusing for them - and artificial since the basic underlying sentence is a command, not a question.

I only use question marks to end sentences which are questions.

Maybe others do things differently, but it's not what I learned in school.

 

[Nightmare85]

**Neither a teacher nor a native speaker.**

Questions start with a question word.
The only exception is to separate a sentence:
I wonder, where have they been?
I wonder where they have been.

As you can see, I don't use a question mark for sentence 2 since it doesn't begin with a question word and it's not split.

I was wondering if you could tell me what time it is?
Same here, it's one not-split sentence that doesn't start with a question word.
I would never use a question mark here!

Some question words are:
Where is he?
What does he do?
When will he come?
How did it happen?
Who is he?
Would you help me?
Could you do this for me?
Can you tell me the time, please?
Will you work tomorrow?
Are you going to dance tonight?

I wonder, where is he?
I wonder where he is.

Please tell me, how did it happen?
Please tell me how it happened.

I ask myself, who is he?
I ask myself who he is.

I hope it's a bit clearer now.

Cheers!