English Grammar Drills

266 Sentences
what happens when we reverse the positions of the dummy helping verb do and the subject in our
example sentence:
Does John know . . . ⇒ John does know . . .
Now the dummy helping verb do and the present tense marker it carries have been put back in
front of the main verb know. Since the present tense marker is now next to a real verb (know),
there is no longer any need for the dummy verb do to carry the present tense marker, and so do
disappears.
John does know . . . ⇒ John ∅ knows
Finally, we have to change knows to knew according to the basic rule of backshifting in indirect
questions.
John ∅ knows . . . ⇒ John knew
Here are some more examples with the helping verb do:
Direct:
Indirect:
Direct:
Indirect:
She asked, “Does Sally plan to join us?”
She asked if Sally planned to join them.
They asked, “Did Fred call the meeting?”
They asked if Fred had called the meeting.
Exercise 15.4
Change the following direct quotation yes-no questions to their corresponding indirect question
forms.
He asked Tim, “Are you tired after your trip?”
He asked Tim if he were tired after his trip.
1. He asked me, “Will you be able to come to the reception?”
2. I asked the kids, “Did you set the table for six people?”
3. He asked, “Has Ruth written her essay yet?”