"Declarative" Quotes from Famous Books
 ... (b), there are two points of difference from the others considered: first, no antecedent is expressed, which would indicate that they are not relatives; second, a question is disguised in each sentence, although each sentence as a whole is declarative in form. Thus, 1 (b), if expanded, would be, "Who stood behind? We knew," etc., showing that who is plainly interrogative. So in 2 (b), what is interrogative, the full expression being, "But what had become of them? They knew not." Likewise ...
— An English Grammar • W. M. Baskervill and J. W. Sewell |
