Such methods as these were the only ways primitive man had of keeping track of things before he had discovered the art of written speech. And even after written speech was known and used, these old methods persisted.
Gradually, step by step, man has come along the path of progress. Adventurous spirits, not satisfied with the old way of doing things, sought new ways. The conservatives of their day thought them dangerous people, no doubt, and feared that they would destroy the very foundations of society. And this they oft-times did, but only that there might rise a more perfect form of society. It is the seeking, questioning mind that demands the reason for all things, that seeks ever better ways of doing things. They have always throughout the ages refused to bow to the authority of the past but have dared to live their own lives. To them we owe the progress of the world and we are the inheritors of their spirit.
Let us prove our kinship by daring to live our own lives and think our own thoughts.
Yours for Freedom,
THE PEOPLE'S COLLEGE.
INTERROGATIVE PRONOUNS
228. You recall that in our first lesson we studied concerning the four different kinds of sentences which we use in expressing our thoughts, the assertive, the interrogative, the imperative and the exclamatory. The interrogative sentence is the form which we use in asking a question, interrogative being derived from the Latin inter, meaning between, and rogare, to ask, meaning literally to ask between. The interrogative sentence differs from the assertive sentence in the arrangement of the words; for in order to ask questions, we usually place the predicate, or part of it at least, before the subject, thus:
- Can you use good English?
- Did you spell the word correctly?
- Has he studied grammar?
In these sentences, you note that the helping verbs, can, did and has, are placed first instead of the subject. It is by this arrangement that we put the sentence in the interrogative form.
229. Frequently, however, in asking questions we wish to ask concerning a person or thing whose name we do not know. So we need a word to refer to the unknown object. See how these uses of words grow out of our need! We have three interrogative pronouns, who and which and what, that we use to meet this need. Notice the use of these three pronouns in the following sentences: