Diagramming Interrogative Pronouns

[Kim in FL]

FL Greetings,

We are currently in Section 34. of Harvey's Elementary Grammar, "INTERROGATIVE PRONOUNS" and had a question on how to diagram them.

For example,

What did he say?

Which trots the fastest?

Who wrote that letter?

I couldn't find anything in Mary Daly regarding these.

Your help is MUCH appreciated!

Sincerely,
Kim
Merritt Island, FL

[Carolyn]

In my mind, the easiest way to diagram sentences with interrogative pronouns is to first turn the sentence into a statement, and diagram it that way.

What did he say? --> he did say? What

The capitalization and punctuation (which should be included in the diagram) give cues that it's interrogative.

Gene Moutoux has a wonderful webpage with sentence examples and diagrams. It's a handy reference, findable at www.geocities.com/gene_moutoux/basicdiagrams.htm

[Kim in FL]

Still a little shaky on that since the language is so stilted when turned around. So, for the other two sentences I listed, would it be:

Which trots the fastest? --> the fastest trots? Which
and would be diagrammed with: subj "the fastest" verb "trots" and DO "Which"

then,

Who wrote that letter? --> that letter wrote? Who
and would be diagrammed with: subj "letter" verb "wrote" and DO Who

I don't think I am clear on the interrogative pronouns functioning as DO's.

But your link, specifically sentence examples 18 and 20 show how to diagram a subject - verb- DO structure. So I understand that part.

Any further insights?

Thanks,
KIM

[Carolyn]

In "Which trots the fastest", 'which' is an interrogative adjective. And it's a plain messy sentence to diagram, since there are words missing.

For this sentence, rather than rearrange the words, we need to come up with what is missing. "Which one" is a reasonable substitute for the complete subject. In the diagram, the subject would be either (one) or 'x', to show what you are reading into the sentence, or that a word is missing.

Since 'trots' is intransitive, 'fastest' can't be a DO. It's got to be functioning as an adverb, and is modified by 'the'.

Now, for 'who wrote that letter', I see that my original formula of 'turn the sentence into a declarative one' needs some refining. The subject of the sentence needs to stay the subject. With 'what did he say?', 'he' is the subject, and we rearrange the word order to help see that better. In 'who wrote', clearly, the writing is being done by the who, so it needs to stay the subject. And it's a straightforward diagram. Who | wrote -> letter?

[Kim in FL]

Okay, it's becoming clearer. It's always those "exceptions" to the rules or basic formula that complicate things.

I just bought, "Descriptive English Grammar" from amazon.com and it looks like it is going to be a valuable resource: elaborating on Mary Daly's diagramming book as well as Harvey's. I didn't realize it was so old (1931 copyright). There are even some Scripture verses used as examples!

I saw you were going to be on the HSLDA E-vents this week and speaking about Poetry Studies. We have added Poetry for Beginners this year and are currently alternating it with CW-Homer B. I love how they complement each other as well as our grammar studies AND Latin studies.

Review...review...review.

Wishing you all the best in your HSLDA webinar,
KIM

[Carolyn]

The Descriptive English Grammar on my desk has a 1931 copyright also. There are more recent versions, but any DEG is a gem.

My favorite part is the index. Stuck on how to diagram something with 'than' in it? Look up 'than'! Struggling with how 'like' is used in a sentence? 'like' is in the index too!

Enjoy browsing through it when it arrives.

Carolyn