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JungKim Posted 11 years ago
Grammar
Gettysburg Address
...
But, in a larger sense, we can not dedicate, we can not consecrate, we can not hallow this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here.
It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us—that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion—that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain—that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom—and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.
I'm interested in this last paragraph and my questions will be about it.
Here are my questions:
(1) In the first sentence, I think that 'it' refers to 'to be dedicated here to the unfinished work' and the 'which'-clause modifies 'the unfinished work'. Am I right?
(2) Similarly, in the second sentence, I think that 'it' refers to 'to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us'. Am I right?
(3) If so, what's the grammatical function of the first that-clause ('that from these honored dead...')?
(4) I think that the second that-clause ('that we here highly resolve...') has the same function as the first one. And that the remaining that-clauses (3rd, 4th and 5th) are all complement of the verb 'resolve'. Am I right?
But, in a larger sense, we can not dedicate, we can not consecrate, we can not hallow this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here.
It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us—that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion—that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain—that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom—and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.
I'm interested in this last paragraph and my questions will be about it.
Here are my questions:
(1) In the first sentence, I think that 'it' refers to 'to be dedicated here to the unfinished work' and the 'which'-clause modifies 'the unfinished work'. Am I right?
(2) Similarly, in the second sentence, I think that 'it' refers to 'to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us'. Am I right?
(3) If so, what's the grammatical function of the first that-clause ('that from these honored dead...')?
(4) I think that the second that-clause ('that we here highly resolve...') has the same function as the first one. And that the remaining that-clauses (3rd, 4th and 5th) are all complement of the verb 'resolve'. Am I right?
Top answer
JungKim (1) In the first sentence, I think that 'it' refers to 'to be dedicated here to the unfinished work' and the 'which'-clause modifies 'the unfinished work'. Am I right? The first 2 examples are "dummy it" constructions.
- JungKim (1) In the first sentence, I think that 'it' refers to 'to be dedicated here to the unfinished work' and the 'which'-clause modifies 'the unfinished work'.
- Am I right?
- The first 2 examples are "dummy it" constructions.
- There is no antecedent.
- It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced.
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28 Answers
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JungKim(1) In the first sentence, I think that 'it' refers to 'to be dedicated here to the unfinished work' and the 'which'-clause modifies 'the unfinished work'. Am I right?The first 2 examples are "dummy it" constructions. There is no antecedent.
It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which the
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AlpheccaStarsThe first 2 examples are "dummy it" constructions. There is no antecedent.I understand that these are dummy it's and that there is no antecedent.
But I thought that the dummy it's took up the position of the subject of each sentence and that the extraposed subjects were the respective to-infinitive clauses (to be dedicated
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JungKimI think it makes sense to think of them as extraposed subjects.Here is a dummy "it" sentence:
It is raining.
The grammatical subject is "it." There is no other subject.
It is for us to be dedicated...
The infinitive clause, us to be dedicated, with the subject ,"us," is the object o
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AlpheccaStarsHere is a dummy "it" sentence:It is raining.The grammatical subject is "it." There is no other subject.It is for us to be dedicated...The infinitive clause, us to be dedicated, with the subject ,"us," is the object of a preposition "for." Since it has a grammatical function as the complement of a preposition, the clause cannot also serve as subject.
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JungKimThe first 'dummy it', for example, can be replaced with the extraposed subject as follows:To be dedicated here to the unfinished work is for us the living, rather (than for the brave men, living and dead, who struggled here).I think this is sometimes called "anticipatory it".
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JungKimGPY, do you agree with my analysis of the it's?In terms of the meaning, yes. I'm not certain what grammatical terminology is preferred to describe it though.
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GPYIn terms of the meaning, yes. I'm not certain what grammatical terminology is preferred to describe it though.That'll do. Terms don't matter as long as we know we're talking about the same thing.
Thanks for your confirmation.
Could you also comment on the grammatical function of the first and second that's?
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Hmm. I read the first "that" as introducing a that-clause, i.e. making a noun out of "from these honored dead we take ..." so that it can be considered a task. Thereafter it becomes a bit unclear to me. Since "task" is singular, I now expect to be finished with that part, in which case the second highlighted "that" seems to have no secure grammatical or logical connection to what precedes it. Howe
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GPYI read the first "that" as introducing a that-clause, i.e. making a noun out of "from these honored dead we take ..." so that it can be considered a task.So you're saying that the first that -clause explains the content of the task, right?
GPYThereafter it becomes a bit unclear to me. Since "task" is singular, I now expect to
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