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Can someone explain to me how to use a sentence like "xxxxxxx, that xxxxxxxxxxxx". As i still got little confused it.Thanks

MrPedantic · Accepted Answer

Hello Q

Do you have an example?

MrP

Welkins2139 · Answer

That is a pronoun that refers back to antecedent.

Qut · Answer

The monastery was built in the shadow of a massive rock,hundreds of feet high,that tour books often referred to as "the Gibraltar of Greece".

My understanding here ",that tour books often referred to as "the Gibraltar of Greece"." is a non-restrictive clause, so it cannot use "that". Pls correct me.

Thanks

CalifJim · Answer

"... a massive rock that tour books ..." is restrictive. There should be no comma before "that".
"... a massive rock which tour books ..." is restrictive also. There is no comma before "which".
"... a massive rock, which tour books ..." makes it non-restrictive. There is a comma before "which".
"... a massive rock, that tour books ..." is incorrect. Both a comma and "that" is not used.

The problem is that the phrase "hundreds of feet high", set off by commas, is included in the sentence. Once the two commas around this phrase are placed in the sentence, matters become more complicated.
Since the combination of a comma and "that" is not used in any of the relative clause patterns, this cannot be a case of a comma before "that". Rather, it is a case of a comma before and after the intervening "hundreds of feet high" followed by the continuation of the outer phrase " ... massive rock that tour books ...".

Somewhat more diagramatically,

... the shadow of a massive rock
, hundreds of feet high,
that tour books often referred to ...

so this is a restrictive clause with "that".

Had "which" been used instead of "that", either a restrictive or a non-restrictive interpretation would have been possible because the placement of commas, for reasons other than those connected with the relative clause, neutralizes the distinction.

CJ

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