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Square Posted 12 years ago
Grammar
As is often the case
He is late again, as is often the case.
I am really confused about the sentence above. Why it is not "as it is often the case"?
How would you parse the word "as"? In my dictionaries, "as" can be an adverb, preposition, conjunction. However, I don't see any of them that fits here.
Thanks.
I am really confused about the sentence above. Why it is not "as it is often the case"?
How would you parse the word "as"? In my dictionaries, "as" can be an adverb, preposition, conjunction. However, I don't see any of them that fits here.
Thanks.
Top answer
The implied meaning is He is late again, as is often the case with him . I would say that the "as" phrase modified "late" (what kind of late? a chronic lateness).
- The implied meaning is He is late again, as is often the case with him .
- I would say that the "as" phrase modified "late" (what kind of late?
- a chronic lateness).
- So I would class it as adverbial.
- However, I welcome added comment from a grammarian.
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10 Answers
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The implied meaning is
He is late again, as is often the case with him.
I would say that the "as" phrase modified "late" (what kind of late? a chronic lateness). So I would class it as adverbial. However, I welcome added comment from a grammarian.
He is late again, as is often the case with him.
I would say that the "as" phrase modified "late" (what kind of late? a chronic lateness). So I would class it as adverbial. However, I welcome added comment from a grammarian.
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On the basis that we can substitute "as he often is" with, it seems to me, no fundamental change in the role of "as", my vote is actually for it being a conjunction, and for "is often the case" being some kind of reduced form. I am by no means certain though.
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SquareHow would you parse the word "as"?
3as
pronounDefinition of AS
1: http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/that,
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CalifJim(Merriam-Webster on-line dictionary)It's interesting that M-W Learner's Dictionary gives "As is the case with many men, he seemed to be having a midlife crisis" as an example of "as" as a conjunction. I guess they can't decide.
http://www.learnersd
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Thank you, everyone.I really like the opinion that "as" is a pronoun there that means "a fact that".
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Thinking about this again, I am wondering whether "He is late again, as is often the case" could be merely an inversion of "He is late again, as the case often is". This would be along the lines of other sentences such as "I could ask him, as could you" (= "... as you could"), "He has resigned, as has his colleague" (= "... as his colleague has"), and so on.
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Thank you, GPY.
That makes sense. However, I am wondering how can we explain about the inversion here. Why don't we use the ordinary order?
That makes sense. However, I am wondering how can we explain about the inversion here. Why don't we use the ordinary order?
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SquareThank you, GPY.That makes sense. However, I am wondering how can we explain about the inversion here. Why don't we ]use the ordinary order?Short answer: I don't know.
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GPYShort answer: I don't know.I think, at least in some cases, it is a matter of emphasis. For example, "I could ask him, as could you" gets the less important repetition of "could" out of the way first, allowing more emphasis to fall on the final "you".
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Because 'as' can be used as a quasi.
Originally, the word 'as' is used as a conjunction that connects two independent clauses.
However, 'as' can also be used as a relative pronoun, and here it has the same meaning with ', which'.
In other words, 'as' represents the noun in its clause and connects two clauses, as the relative pronoun does.
Therefore, even though
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