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I would like to unite these questions into a single uninterrupted expression:

Is she okay?

Does she need any help?

Does she need someone to keep her company?

But all the sentences I make sound strange to me!

Is she okay, or she needs any help, or just needs someone to keep her company?

Is she okay, or does she need any help, or does she need someone to keep her company?

Would you please let me know how I should join some questions together with the conjunction "or" and make a lucid one-sentence question out of them?

2 Answers 2

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Your second combined sentence is okay, though it doesn't exactly flow naturally. I'm not fond of keeping them all as separate questions either; it sounds like a barrage of questions you keep asking without giving anyone a chance to answer. ("Are we there yet? I'm bored, can I have a toy? I need the restroom, can we pull over? Are we there yet?"). A bit annoying.

I'd go for the middle ground and use two questions. This would flow easily, I think:

Is she okay? Does she need any help, or someone to keep her company?

"Is she okay" is naturally distinct from the other questions. It isn't an offer for help; it's simply a yes or no question. So it seems naturally to separate it from the offers for help. (I think this is why your combined sentence didn't flow well.) You want to know if she's okay; you quickly follow that up by offering to help in two ways that pop into your head. Sounds perfectly reasonable to me.

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Your second sentence is lucid, although I prefer the version with three separate questions. What are you trying to gain by adding the "or"s?

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  • Thank you. I guess a conjunction would make the sentence more cursive. Otherwise it would seem as if I'm filling a form: "Is she okay?" checked! "Does she need any help?" checked! "Does she...." Besides, it somehow shows that these questions are not completely on different topics. With semicolon they seem more like random questions.
    – user1555
    Sep 1, 2013 at 15:17

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