[General] Wh-Questions - Who did you tell he was? & Who did you guess he was.

[Tae-Bbong-E]

Hello

I have couple of questions about Wh-questions and I want you to check my understanding is right.


Question 1)
I want to know check if the following sentences are possible.
1. I told who he was.
2. Did you tell who he was? (This question is to intend to get an answer Yes or No)
3. Who did you tell he was? (This question is to intend to get the fact. e.g. he was my father)

4. I considered who he was.
5. Did you consider who he was? (This question is to intend to get an answer Yes or No)
6. Who did you consider he was? (This question is to intend to get the fact. e.g. he was my father)

7. I said who he was.
8. Did you say who he was? (This question is to intend to get an answer Yes or No)
9. Who did you say he was? (This question is to intend to get the fact. e.g. he was my father)


Questions 2)
From what I see when verbs "guess, suppose, believe, think, imagine" are with indirect Wh-questions as object, Native speaker usually say the following sentences while asking for the fact. e.g. He was my father.
A) You guessed who he was.
B) Who did you guess he was?

C) You supposed who he was.
D) Who did you suppose he was?

E) You thought what could be a problem.
F) What did you think could be a problem?


However, Native speaker won't say the below-written sentences, eve though they want to ask for an answer Yes or No.
aa) Did you guess who he was?
bb) Did you suppose who he was?
cc) Did you think who he was?
dd) Did you think what could be a problem?
If so in the case of verbs "guess, suppose, believe, think, imagine" they don't have Do/Does questions with indirect Wh-questions as object.
Am I right?

 

[GoesStation]

Please ask only one question per post. Threads become hopelessly confusing when they address multiple questions.

 

[Tarheel]

Try:

I want you to tell me if my understanding is right.

 

[tzfujimino]

3. works only with 'who' after 'tell'.

That means #2 works, doesn't it?
I think you mean "Did you tell someone/anyone who he was?". Please correct me if I'm wrong.

 

[Tarheel]

That means #2 works, doesn't it?
I think you mean "Did you tell someone/anyone who he was?" Please correct me if I'm wrong.

Please note that Piscean did in fact suggest "someone" as a possibility.

 

[emsr2d2]

I think you mean "Did you tell someone/anyone who he was?" No full stop here

When there is a closing punctuation mark inside the quotation marks, don't use another closing punctuation mark after them.

 

[jutfrank]

1. I told who he was.
2. Did you tell who he was? (This question is to intend to get an answer Yes or No)
3. Who did you tell he was? (This question is to intend to get the fact. e.g. he was my father)

They're all wrong.

Sentence 3 could be grammatical if you added who after tell (as suggested in post #3) but that still wouldn't mean what you want it to mean.

Are you sure you don't mean to use say instead of tell? It's really not clear what you're trying to say.

 

[Tae-Bbong-E]

Thanks you guys.
I guess I gave you wrong sentences as examples. I am awfully sorry.

I just overlooked "tell" verb needs objects as personal object.

So, the following sentence is possible, am I right?
e.g.)
Who did you tell Mr. Jake she was?

 

[Tae-Bbong-E]

Dear Piscean
Thank you so much x 100.
Now I am clear.

 

[emsr2d2]

Dear Piscean

Thank you so much x 100 ~!
Now I am clear.​

Your post is very poorly laid out. Don't put text in the middle of the box. There's no need to use "Dear"; you're not writing a formal letter. There's no need to create a hyperlink to Piscean's profile. Don't forget that there is no need to write any post to say "Thank you" to anyone. You should have simply clicked on the "Thank" button on Piscean's post. However, here is how your post should have looked:

Thanks, Piscean. It's a hundred times clearer now.

Edit: Seemingly, while I was writing this post, someone edited the previous post and moved all the text to the left.