Exercise 55 (§§ 440–445, Pp. 179–181)
1. Some, but not all, of the following sentences contain indirect questions. Point out these questions and tell what introduces them (interrogative pronoun, interrogative adverb, subordinate conjunction). Mention the construction of each interrogative clause (as subject, object, etc.).
2. Turn each indirect question into a direct question.
3. Point out such relative clauses as you find in the sentences. Are they adjective or adverbial modifiers?
1. Warrington did not know what his comrade’s means were. 2. He could scarcely tell whether she was imbued with sunshine, or whether it was a glow of happiness that shone out of her. 3. I started the question whether duelling was consistent with moral duty.—Boswell. 4. The pilgrims then began to inquire if there was no other way to the gate. 5. He knew not what to make of the letter. 6. I hardly heard what he said. 7. Every one knows practically what are the constituents of health or of virtue.—Newman. 8. Think calmly over what I have written. 9. Then she asked him whence he was and whither he was going; and he told her. 10. What to expect, he knew not. 11. Theseus wondered what this immense giant could be. 12. Hack says it was Mrs. Bungay who caused all the mischief. 13. The question was how best to extricate the army from its perilous position. 14. Addison was a delightful companion when he was at his ease. 15. I doubt whether the wisest of us know what our own motives are.
16. I puzzled my head for some time to find out which of the two cases was the more applicable. 17. I returned to the studies which I had neglected. 18. I cannot tell how I dared to say what I did. 19. How long he slept he could not say. 20. Fanny, in dismay at such an unprecedented question, did not know which way to look, or how to be prepared for an answer.—Miss Austen. 21. What my course of life will be when I return to England is very doubtful. 22. I cannot tell you how vaingloriously I walked the streets. 23. Then I told what a tall, upright, graceful person their great-grandmother Field once was. 24. When the bean-vines began to flower on the poles, there was one particular variety which bore a vivid scarlet blossom. 25. I know not which way I must look. 26. Why she submitted, Mrs. Turpin could not have told you. 27. I began to become conscious what a strange den that sanctum was. 28. How Ferguson escaped, was, and still is, a mystery. 29. How far he felt the force of this obligation will appear in the sequel.
4. Write sentences containing indirect questions introduced by who, which, what, when, how, why, whether, if.
5. Fill the blanks with who or whom. Tell, in each sentence, whether who or whom is an interrogative or a relative pronoun.
1. I know —— it was that broke the window.
2. I know —— it was that you saw.
3. I know —— you saw.
4. I know the person —— you saw.
5. I asked if the man —— we saw was Douglas.
6. I asked if the boy —— broke the window was Archer.
7. I know —— it was you overheard.
8. Tell me —— it is that I resemble.
9. Tell me —— I resemble.
10. Tell me —— you think I resemble.
11. Tell me if I resemble anybody —— you know.
6. Turn all the indirect questions which you have just written into direct questions.
7. Construct sentences in which each of the verbs (or verb-phrases) is followed by an indirect question:—
asked,
tell,
inquire,
is learning,
see,
might discover,
had heard,
have
found,
doubt,
have perceived,
is thinking,
wonders,
knew,
was told,
understands,
to comprehend,
is,
could ascertain,
has reported,
will announce.