Il mutamento di strutture avviene solitamente quando si riferisce il
contenuto di una domanda:
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What
are you doing?
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I’ve
just asked you what you are doing.
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“What’s
your name?” he asked me.
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He
wanted to know what my name was.
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“Are you
joking?”
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They
asked if I was joking.
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La domanda indiretta ha la costruzione delle frasi affermative: you
are doing, my name was, I was joking, senza inversione tra
ausiliare e soggetto.
Se il verbo che introduce la domanda diretta è say,
questo va sostituito da verbi come; ask, ask
if/whether, want to know, ecc.; il corrispondente
interrogativo di “pensare”, think,
è “chiedersi, domandarsi” wonder:
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He
said: "When did she write last?"
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He
asked when she had written last.
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Lewis’s
mother thought: “Why is he
so restless?”
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Lewis’s
mother wondered why he was so restless.
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Vi sono casi più complessi in cui intervengono anche mutamenti
di tempi o di ausiliari, come in questi esempi:
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Sheila:
"Shall I go there with Mary?"
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Sheila
asked if she should go there with Mary.
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Shall
I open the door? (richiesta)
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She
inquired if she should open the door.
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Shall
I ever forget her? (futuro)
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He
wondered if he would ever forget her.
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Have
you seen him anywhere?
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He
asked me whether I had seen him anywhere.
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Do you
know who is coming?
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They
asked if I knew who was coming.
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Did
you see who killed them?
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She
asked if I saw who had killed them.
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Did
you wonder why we didn’t come?
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They
asked if we’d wondered why they hadn’t come.
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Do you
like this? Yes.
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He
asked me if I liked it, and I said I did.
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Oh
dear! I’ve spoiled my new dress.
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She
exclaimed she had spoiled her new dress.
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