If-clause
"If people believe them, that only they can offer an effective solution to the migration crisis, they will also believe anything else they say."
(The Guardian.)
Is them an indirect object and that only they can offer an effective solution to the migration crisis a direct one in the If-clause in the conditional sentence above? And if so, why is a comma placed between those objects?
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On second thought, I presume (though being unsure about that) that the author of that sentence might have taken the content clause that only they can offer an effective solution to the migration crisis as an adjunct, an additional information, hence the comma before it.
Top answer
If people believe them, that only they can offer an effective solution to the migration crisis , they will also believe anything else they say. "Them" is direct object, and the underlined content clause is a supplementary adjunct. Note that objects (direct or indirect) are always NPs, while content clauses are mainly complement of some verb, noun etc.
- If people believe them, that only they can offer an effective solution to the migration crisis , they will also believe anything else they say.
- "Them" is direct object, and the underlined content clause is a supplementary adjunct.
- Note that objects (direct or indirect) are always NPs, while content clauses are mainly complement of some verb, noun etc.
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If people believe them, that only they can offer an effective solution to the migration crisis, they will also believe anything else they say.
"Them" is direct object, and the underlined content clause is a supplementary adjunct.
Note that objects (direct or indirect) are always NPs, while content clauses are mainly complement of some verb, noun etc.
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