The English Language english language

Multi-Clause Sentences

in Exercise (1), each embedded clause is in fact the direct object.

Indirect question clauses, such as those italicized below, are another type of
direct object clause. They are sentences in which the verb of the main clause
names a questioning speech act, such as ask, wonder, and the like, and the
subordinate clause is a wh- or if-clause with no subject-auxiliary inversion:

(15) a. I wonder who the culprit is. [wh-clause]
b. I asked him whether he was ready to leave. [whether clause]

These can be paraphrased as direct questions such as, “Who is the culprit?” I
wonder and “Are you ready to leave?” she asked. Notice that subject-auxiliary
inversion occurs in direct questions, but not in indirect questions.
Indirect questions must be distinguished from similar sentences with wh-
clauses in direct object position such as:

(16) I know what the thief took.

These cannot be paraphrased as direct questions, but can be paraphrased by
expanding the wh-phrase into a full NP:

(17) I know which thing(s) the thief took.

Exercise
Create another five sentences with finite indirect questions clauses in
them. Show that your subordinate clauses really are indirect question
clauses by rephrasing them as direct questions. Also, create or collect
five direct questions and turn them into indirect questions. (Carter and
McCarthy 2006 pp. 804-24 provide an excellent overview of the ways in
which speech is represented in English discourses.)

Clauses that function as indirect objects
In (18) the italicized clause is the indirect object of gave:

(18) We gave whoever was there a French pastry.

We can demonstrate that this indirect question is the IO of this sentence