artart wrote:1) They told me every group had to have two doctors. I didn't know if two people in my group were doctors. I had to go ask.
2) I didn't know if two people in my group were doctors. Those people were June and Claire. I knew what everyone else did and I know Pete and Margret were doctors.
Are both of the above correct?
The sentence 'I didn't know if two people in my group were doctors.' has been used with two different meanings in them. In A I don't have anyone specific in mind. In B, I do.
Is your native language Russian?
You need to define "correct" first. Just like in every language, an English phrase can be grammatically correct, but slightly confusing; and you are allowed to make them like that - it all depends on how you want to express it.
So my take is:
1) Grammatically correct, slightly confusing. A less confusing version would be:
They told me every group had to have two doctors. I didn't know if there were two doctors in my group. I had to go ask. So what I'm saying is that the phrase sounds totally okay, you can just make it even better and more understandable if you want.
2) is less understandable and more confusing. You have to read it a couple of times and think what the author actually means. I'd say it like that:
For two people in my group, I didn't know if they were doctors. Those people were June and Claire. But I knew what everyone else did and I know Pete and Margret were doctors. If you didn't explain, I wouldn't understand because at the beginning of your sentence it's not clear if you're wondering if there are two doctors in your group or if you're wondering if two particular people in your group are doctors. And then since your second phrase is opposed to the first one, you need to contrast it with a conjunction.
In conclusion, whether you speak English or Russian (if my guess was right), you need to think of the meaning you're conveying and how your reader's thought process would go.