1. I believe I should like to live in a small house just outside a pleasant English town all the days of my life.—Fitz Gerald. 2. The sultan said he would oblige us with donkeys or anything else if we would only give him a few more pretty cloths.—Speke. 3. I think that I should like it to be always summer. 4. He often told his friends afterwards, that unless he had found out this piece of exercise, he verily believed he should have lost his senses.—Addison. 5. Do you remember once saying to me that you hoped you should never leave Brentham? 6. I knew that he would not have accepted office in 1841–1842 if he could have avoided it. 7. Promise you will give him this little book of drawings. 8. I have often thought that there has rarely passed a life of which a judicious and faithful narrative would not be useful.—Johnson. 9. She said, very quietly, that she wished to speak to him after breakfast, and that he would find her in her sitting room. 10. Lady Annabel had promised the children that they should some day ride together to Marringhurst.
11. One of them told us that he would make us a canoe. 12. Promise, Marion—pray promise you will not even mention my name to him when you write next. 13. He felt that no argument of his would be of any use. 14. I know very well that I shall sign my own death warrant on the day when I retire from business. 15. She knew very well now that Grandcourt would not go without her; but if he must tyrannize over her, he should not do it precisely in the way he would choose. She would oblige him to stay in the hotel. 16. They were afraid that they should not long be able to put him off with promises. 17. Bungay replied that he should be happy to have dealings with Mr. Pendennis.
2. Fill the blanks with the proper auxiliary (shall or should, or will or would).
- 1. Your father said that he —— be glad to see me.
- 2. I told him that I —— be obliged to dismiss him.
- 3. I wrote that we —— gladly accept his invitation.
- 4. My friends believed that I —— not be willing to go.
- 5. Robert thinks that he —— have to work evenings.
- 6. Robert says that I —— have to work evenings.
- 7. They say that Robert —— work evenings, although he ought not.
- 8. I promised that Robert —— not work evenings.
- 9. I told Mary that I was sure she —— succeed.
- 10. Mary said she had no doubt that I —— succeed.
- 11. Mary will say that she has no doubt I —— succeed.
- 12. I repeat that I have no doubt you —— succeed.
- 13. He declared that you —— go, even against your will.
- 14. The report is that we —— dissolve partnership.
3. Change the indirect statements in the sentences which you have just made to direct statements.
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.