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Kilimanjaro Posted 19 years ago
Grammar
noun of noun (relative modifier)
He seized the handle of the door which was broken.
"which" refers to:
a) handle
b) door
The roof of the house that has long been dilapidated needs an overall restoration
"that" refers to:
a) roof
b) house
How do we understand which noun the relative pronoun refers to in above cases (noun of noun + relative pronoun). Does the proximity rule hold true for all cases?
Thank you very much in advance.
Kili
"which" refers to:
a) handle
b) door
The roof of the house that has long been dilapidated needs an overall restoration
"that" refers to:
a) roof
b) house
How do we understand which noun the relative pronoun refers to in above cases (noun of noun + relative pronoun). Does the proximity rule hold true for all cases?
Thank you very much in advance.
Kili
Top answer
Does the proximity rule hold true for all cases? No, but it may be all you've got to go on in ambiguous cases like these. In the two sentences you quote, there is no way to be absolutely certain about the referent of the relative pronoun.
- Does the proximity rule hold true for all cases?
- No, but it may be all you've got to go on in ambiguous cases like these.
- In the two sentences you quote, there is no way to be absolutely certain about the referent of the relative pronoun.
- It's called ambiguity .
- Try not to produce sentences like these in your own writing!
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10 Answers
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Does the proximity rule hold true for all cases?No, but it may be all you've got to go on in ambiguous cases like these. In the two sentences you quote, there is no way to be absolutely certain about the referent of the relative pronoun. It's called ambiguity. Try not to produce sentences like these in your own writing!
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CalifJimDoes the proximity rule hold true for all cases?No, but it may be all you've got to go on in ambiguous cases like these. In the two sentences you quote, there is no way to be absolutely certain about the referent of the relative pronoun. It's called ambiguity. Try not to produce sentences like these in your own writing!
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Then how would you write these sentences using only one sentence for each matter to avoid ambiguity?
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SelecterThen how would you write these sentences using only one sentence for each matter to avoid abiguity?ambiguity
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Look in sentences like these you should try to find which phrase or word which is trying to explain.In the first sentence we see a noun phrase "the handle of the door" then which comes.So here the answer is the handle.Lets suppose that we are trying to explain the door do you think there will be need for us to say handle?
In the second sentence that refers to th
In the second sentence that refers to th
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SelecterThen how would you write these sentences using only one sentence for each matter to avoid ambiguity?How about this?
He seized the broken handle of the door.
He seized the broken door handle.
He seized the handle of the door, the latter of which was broken.
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He seized the handle of the broken door. The door is broken.
He seized the broken handle of the door. The handle is broken. (The broken door handle still sounds like it's the handle that's broken.)
The roof of the house has long been dilapidated and needs an overall restoration. The roof is dilapidated.
The roof of the long-dilapidated house needs an overall restoration.
He seized the broken handle of the door. The handle is broken. (The broken door handle still sounds like it's the handle that's broken.)
The roof of the house has long been dilapidated and needs an overall restoration. The roof is dilapidated.
The roof of the long-dilapidated house needs an overall restoration.
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Hi Kilimanjaro
Two things are common to your sentences: both contain a restrictive relative clause and an of-genitive. As a door normally has only one handle and a house has only one roof, the relative pronouns can't refer to handle and roof. For that to be possible, the sentences should read:
He seized the handle of the door
Two things are common to your sentences: both contain a restrictive relative clause and an of-genitive. As a door normally has only one handle and a house has only one roof, the relative pronouns can't refer to handle and roof. For that to be possible, the sentences should read:
He seized the handle of the door
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Kilimanjaro
He seized the handle of the door which was broken.
"which" refers to:
a) handle [URL=][/URL]
b) door
The roof of the house that has long been dilapidated needs an overall restoration
"that" refers to:
a) roof [URL=][/URL]
b) house
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