#54 - I wonder if it will rain tomorrow. ☔ Practice with "wonder"

I wonder if it will rain tomorrow. We want to go for a hike.

Right! And I wonder if it will bed dry enough to walk on the trails.

We use “wonder if” in those sentences... what do we mean to say?

We are curious about what the weather will be tomorrow.

Curious?

When you want to know about something, you are curious.

I see a new car in front of my neighbor John’s house. I am curious. 

 I wonder if John bought a new car. I wonder if he has a visitor.

When we are curious about something, and we don’t know the answer, we use “I wonder if….”

It’s like I am asking myself the question.

I invited my boss to my birthday party. I wonder if she will come.

I’m curious about travel to Mars: ”I wonder if humans will ever land on Mars.”

I had an interview for a new job. I’m very curious. “Will I get the job?” I say “I wonder if I will get that job.

We also use “wonder if” when we want to be very polite when we are asking someone for something or to do something.

If I want to ask Diana/Latonya if she can help me with my homework.  I can say, “Diana, can you help me with my homework?”  or I can be very polite and say “I wonder if you can help me with my homework. “

You can also use the present continuous tense and say, “I’m wondering if you can help me with my homework.”

That is a very polite way of asking for something. You can be very direct and ask “Can we meet tomorrow morning?” or you can very politely say, “I wonder if we can meet tomorrow morning.”  

Notice that the “I wonder if….” way of asking for something is not a question. It is a statement. 

The “I wonder if …” form of the request makes the request softer, not so direct.

Listen for: ”I wonder if…” in our conversation:

D: I wonder if all our neighbors will come to the party.

L: Who knows?  Gosh! I wonder if we have enough food.

D: Me too! I wonder if you can make some more macaroni and cheese. 

L: Sure, I can do that, but I wonder if everyone will like it.

D: No need to wonder about that! Your macaroni and cheese is delicious! 

We wonder if anyone will send us an email to talcchats@gmail.com.

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