1a. What was a "very strong thing" with Frank ever since she was a little girl? What does she say is a "well-known fact"?
2a. What did Frank realize about questions as she got older? What discovery did Frank make about questions that she did not feel she could ask or that she did not believe others could answer?
3a. According to Frank, what must a person ask of himself or herself before doing anything?
4a. According to Frank, what should children do from their earliest youth? What does even a small child have?
5a. What different points does Frank make about the word "why"? What different points does she make about asking questions?
1b. Why do children need to ask questions?
2b. What valuable skill did Frank learn by trying to answer her own questions?
3b. Why is it important for people to use this type of questioning?
4b. What does Frank believe should be encouraged and developed in children?
5b. How can asking "why" and thinking things through for yourself make you a better person? How can it help to develop your conscience?
6a. Do you agree with Frank's statements about asking questions and learning? Why, or why not?
6b. Think of a time in your life when you learned by asking questions. What did you learn? How might you learn something new today by asking questions?
Personal Essay. How do you know that Frank's essay is a personal essay? How does she relate her topic to her life?
Graphic Organizer. Use the graphic organizer below to examine your thoughts about Frank's essay.
1. Write a topic sentence that you could use for a personal essay. Then write a list of questions that your essay could answer or explore. Topic Sentence:
Questions:
2. Write a letter to Anne Frank, telling her your thoughts about her essay and about asking questions.
3. Write song lyrics that use the word why.
Responding to Interview Questions. Imagine that you are interviewing for the position of tour guide for a student exchange program. Review the Language Arts Survey 4.1, "Verbal and Nonverbal Communication," and 4.7, "Communicating with Another Person." Then answer the following questions in the space provided. After you have finished, get together with a partner to practice responding orally to the questions.
1. Why did you respond to our job advertisement?
2. Why are you interested in this student exchange program?
3. Why do you feel you are the right person for the position?
4. Are you planning to pursue a career in tourism? Why, or why not?
5. In what field do you intend to pursue your education? Why?
6. Ask the interviewer three "why" questions about the organization or position.
Pronouns. A pronoun is a word used in place of a noun. Two types of pronouns in the English language are the personal pronoun and the interrogative pronoun. Read the Language Arts Survey 3.41, "Using I and Me" and 3.52, "Types of Pronouns." Then indentify the pronouns in each of the following sentences.
1. The little word "why" has been a very strong thing with me ever since I was a tiny little girl and couldn't even speak properly.
2. It is a well-known fact that little children ask questions about everything because they are unfamiliar with everything.
3. This was very much the case with me, but even when I grew older I couldn't wait to ask all kinds of questions, whether they could be answered or not.
4. This is not so terrible in itself and I must say that my parents tried to answer every one of my questions very patiently.
5. I console myself with the idea that there is a saying that says, "you must ask in order to know," which couldn't be completely true, otherwise I'd be a professor by now.
6. How would it be if everyone who did anything asked himself first, "Why?"
7. I can imagine that the last thing people like to do is to confess to themselves their faults and their bad side (which everybody has).
8. Most people think parents should try to educate their children and see to it themselves that their characters develop as well as possible.
9. By arguing reasonably and by showing the child the mistakes it is making, one would get much better results than by strong punishments.
10. The saying "you must ask in order to know," is true in so far as it leads to thinking about things, and by thinking nobody can ever get worse but will only get better.
Forming Adverbs. Reasonably is an adverb formed from the adjective reasonable, a Word for Everyday Use on page 29 of your textbook, by adding the suffix –ly. Create new words by adding the suffix -ly to the following words.
1. nervous =
2. slow =
3. quiet =
4. thoughtful =
5. strong =
6. hurried =
7. obnoxious =
8. frequent =
9. frightful =
10. frigid =
