Help the exasperated detective complete the transcript of this highly unusual interrogation by choosing the correct substitution word for each blank.

"Did the raccoon steal the mayor's toupee?" asked the detective. "I suppose so," replied the witness.

"Did you tell the creature to drop the hairpiece?" "I did, but it refused to do so and simply hissed at me."

"Will the mayor ever recover his dignity?" "I strongly suspect not."

"I suppose so," replied the witness.

We use so after verbs of thinking or speaking (like suppose, think, hope, say) to substitute for an entire affirmative clause. Here, it replaces "that the raccoon stole the toupee."

"I did, but it refused to do so..."

The auxiliary did is used for ellipsis to avoid repeating "told the creature to drop the hairpiece."

The formal phrase do so substitutes for the verb phrase "drop the hairpiece."

"I strongly suspect not."

We use not after verbs of thinking to substitute for a negative clause. Here, it means "I strongly suspect that he will not recover his dignity."