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Yoong Liat Posted 20 years ago
Grammar

joining of sentences

In joining the two sentences, is the word 'it' necessary?

Kathy put the medicine in the cupboard. Her nephew could not reach it.

Kathy put the medicine in the cupboard where her nephew could not reach it.
  

Top answer

Hi The problem boils down to whether reach is transitive or not. Since it can be used both ways, I would say, the use of the pronoun is optional in the 2nd sentence. However, in the first sentence I feel the need of using it.

— Inchoateknowledge

  • Hi The problem boils down to whether reach is transitive or not.
  • Since it can be used both ways, I would say, the use of the pronoun is optional in the 2nd sentence.
  • However, in the first sentence I feel the need of using it.
  • Kathy put the medicine in the cupboard where( pronoun, whose antecedent is in the cupboard ) her nephew could not reach it.
  • Kathy put the medicine in the cupboard .
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27 Answers
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Hi

The problem boils down to whether reach is transitive or not.
Since it can be used both ways, I would say, the use of the pronoun is optional in the 2nd sentence.
However, in the first sentence I feel the need of using it.

Kathy put the medicine in the cupboard where(pronoun, whose antecedent is in the
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I have a niggling doubt that my reasoning is faulty again.
I just can not put my finger on it.
To reach sg in a cupboard sounds like I am in the cupboard too.
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Yoong LiatIn joining the two sentences, is the word 'it' necessary?

Kathy put the medicine in the cupboard. Her nephew could not reach it.

Kathy put the medicine in the cupboard where her nephew could not reach it.

I'd get rid of it.
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InchoateknowledgeI have a niggling doubt that my reasoning is faulty again.
I just can not put my finger on it.
To reach sg in a cupboard sounds like I am in the cupboard too.

I just can not ( typo - cannot ) put my finger on it.
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Maple, you say "I'd get rid of it." Why is 'it' unnecessary?
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InchoateknowledgeHI

No, it is not a typo







Usage note Cannot is
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Yoong LiatMaple, you say "I'd get rid of it." Why is 'it' unnecessary?
Because without it, the sentence reads smoother. It's only my take. Surely we'd better wait to listen to the teachers' advice.
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No, I'd definitely put "it". It's true that "reach", meaning "extend one's hand", can be intransitive, but in this case the idea is that the medicine should be inaccessible. In any case, in the original two sentences we have "reach it", therefore understanding "reach" as a transitive verb. Why should this change when the sentences are joined? "Where" refers to the cupboard; it doesn't subs
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Kathy put the medicine in the cupboard where her nephew could not reach it.

When Kathy's nephew is in the cupboard, (s)he can not reach the medicine.

That is why she put that there.

This is my reading of the sentence. So the sentence does not make much sense to me.
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