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Negative wh-interrogatives 292f

In negative wh-interrogatives, auxiliary do is used in all cases where there is no

other auxiliary or modal verb, even when the wh-word is subject of its clause:

Who doesn’t want tea?

Which one didn’t you use?

Why can’t I say ‘Good afternoon, gentlemen and ladies’? 

Indirect interrogatives

292g

Indirect polar interrogatives

When a polar interrogative is reported indirectly, if or whether is used. Whether

tends to be more formal.

The reported clause has subject – verb – 

X

word order.

Û

539 Glossary for any unfamiliar terms

Clause types | 539

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Examples of indirect polar interrogatives

direct interrogative

indirect interrogative

Will you be seeing them during the week?

She asked me 

if/whether I would be seeing them

during the week.

Did he enjoy himself?

I asked 

if/whether he had enjoyed himself. 

Does everybody go or just the ladies?

I don’t know 

if/whether everybody went or just

the ladies.

Can I phone you back?

He wondered 

if/whether he could phone me

back. 

Have they been helpful?

She asked 

if/whether they had been helpful.

Û

493 Viewpoint: Time and place references in Speech representation for the

principles of backshift in tense and deictic changes in indirect interrogatives

When or not immediately follows, whether is preferred to if:

I don’t know 

whether or not you’ll print this. 

(preferred to: I don’t know if or not …)

When or not is placed later in the clause, then if may be used:

I didn’t know 

if I was going to do it or not.

In informal speech, interrogative word order may occur as an alternative to an

if/whether

clause:

When I asked her 

was she looking for a job, she said, ‘Well, not really’.

(instead of: if/whether she was looking …)

I wonder 

is that form wrong.

(instead of: if/whether that form is wrong.)