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B1 · Intermediate · Asking Around · 230 words · ~2 min read

🗣️ Asking the Right Questions

Language focus: Professional arrangements · polite enquiries

The London Startup Mystery

Before you read

This episode is largely reported conversation, which makes it the natural place to study how English shifts tenses when you repeat what someone said. Watch what happens to each verb when a quotation becomes a report.

Over the next few days, Maya tried to find out more about Daniel without raising suspicion. She decided to play it by ear, slipping casual questions into ordinary conversations whenever she ran into a colleague by the coffee machine.

“Daniel? Brilliant designer, bit of a mystery,” said one. “He always kept his projects under wraps,” said another. Nobody seemed to know exactly what he had been working on before he handed in his notice and disappeared more or less overnight.

Maya arranged a quick chat with Priya. “I don’t want to overstep,” she began carefully, “but I came across an old file of Daniel’s. Should I look into it, or leave it well alone?” Priya hesitated for a moment. “Let me get back to you on that,” she said, a little too quickly.

That evening, Maya replayed the conversation in her head on the train home. Priya’s reaction had been strangely guarded — almost defensive. The plot, it seemed, was beginning to thicken, and Maya’s instincts were rarely wrong.

She was careful never to ask the same person twice. People notice a pattern of questions long before they notice a single one, and Maya had no intention of becoming the colleague who pried.

Priya said she would get back to her by Friday. Friday came and went without a word, which told Maya rather more than an answer would have.

Key vocabulary (6 words)

suspicionnoun
A feeling that something is wrong or that someone is hiding something.
colleaguenoun
A person you work with.
noticenoun
A formal statement that you are leaving your job.
guardedadjective
Careful not to give too much information; cautious.
casualadjective
Relaxed and not planned or formal.
arrangementnoun
A plan or agreement about how something will happen.

Phrasal verbs in this episode

  • find out — To find out means to discover information.
  • run into — To run into someone means to meet them by chance.
  • get back to — To get back to someone means to reply to them later.

Idioms in this episode

  • play it by ear — To play it by ear means to decide what to do as a situation develops, rather than planning in advance.
  • keep something under wraps — To keep something under wraps means to keep it secret.

The grammar in this episode

Reported speech shifts the tense back

Direct: “He always kept his projects under wraps.” Reported: one said that he had always kept his projects under wraps. Present becomes past, past becomes past perfect. The rule bends when what was said is still true, which is why Daniel? Brilliant designer needs no shift at all.

Indirect questions change the word order

“Nobody seemed to know exactly what he had been working on.” In an indirect question the subject comes before the verb, exactly as in a statement — what he had been working on, not what had he been working on. This is the single most common B1 error in reported speech.

get back to and run into

Get back to someone = reply later; it always keeps the person after to. Run into someone = meet by chance, and it is inseparable: she ran into a colleague, never ran a colleague into. Find out, by contrast, is separable: find it out.

Softening a sensitive question

“I don’t want to overstep, but I came across an old file.” The pattern is: name the risk, then ask anyway. English uses it constantly for questions that might be unwelcome — I don’t want to pry, but…, Tell me if this is none of my business, but…

Phrases you can reuse today

I don’t want to overstep, but…
Names the risk before asking a sensitive question.
Let me get back to you on that.
A polite way to delay an answer — sometimes indefinitely.
I ran into her by the coffee machine.
Run into = meet by chance. Inseparable.
He kept it under wraps.
Idiom: kept it secret.

Comprehension quiz

  1. What is Maya trying to do?

    • Find out more about Daniel
    • Get a pay rise
    • Redesign the office
    Show answer

    Find out more about Daniel

  2. How does she ask her questions?

    • In a formal meeting
    • Casually, by the coffee machine
    • By email only
    Show answer

    Casually, by the coffee machine

  3. “Kept his projects under wraps” means he kept them…

    • secret
    • online
    • colourful
    Show answer

    secret

  4. How does Priya respond to Maya’s question?

    • She explains everything
    • She says she will get back to her
    • She laughs
    Show answer

    She says she will get back to her

  5. “Play it by ear” means to…

    • listen to music
    • decide as you go
    • speak loudly
    Show answer

    decide as you go

  6. “Run into a colleague” means to…

    • meet by chance
    • argue with
    • avoid
    Show answer

    meet by chance

Now use it yourself

Reading builds recognition; writing your own sentences is what turns it into something you can actually say. Three short tasks:

  1. Report three things someone told you this week, shifting the tenses back.
  2. Turn three direct questions into indirect ones. Watch the word order.
  3. How do you ask about something that might not be your business?

All 20 B1 episodes

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