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English 1b3 Posted 16 years ago
Grammar
Quantifiers, relative clauses and their reduced forms
1a) I looked at the cars, all of which were destroyed by the bombing.
b) I looked at the cars, all destroyed by the bombing.
2a) Instead, there were fragments. Some of them were culled from various novels and other texts, each one of which was attributed to the respective author and annotated with her own comments and criticisms.
b) Instead, there were fragments. Some of them were culled from various novels and other texts, each one attributed to the respective author and annotated with her own comments and criticisms.
When is the reduced form not OK?
What about with the present form? When is the reduced form not OK?
3a) I saw the crowd, all of whom were drinking and partying excessively.
b) I saw the crowd, all drinking and partying excessively.
Thank you
b) I looked at the cars, all destroyed by the bombing.
2a) Instead, there were fragments. Some of them were culled from various novels and other texts, each one of which was attributed to the respective author and annotated with her own comments and criticisms.
b) Instead, there were fragments. Some of them were culled from various novels and other texts, each one attributed to the respective author and annotated with her own comments and criticisms.
When is the reduced form not OK?
What about with the present form? When is the reduced form not OK?
3a) I saw the crowd, all of whom were drinking and partying excessively.
b) I saw the crowd, all drinking and partying excessively.
Thank you
Top answer
" -- No (comma splice)
- " -- No (comma splice)
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5 Answers
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Someone will hopefully give you a more systematic answer, but here are a couple of examples of structures that don't permit the reduced form:
"Here's my collection of miniatures, all of which I bought at auction." -- OK
"Here's my collection of miniatures, all I bought at auction." -- No
"Here's my collection of miniatures, all bought at auction." -- OK
"Twenty
"Here's my collection of miniatures, all of which I bought at auction." -- OK
"Here's my collection of miniatures, all I bought at auction." -- No
"Here's my collection of miniatures, all bought at auction." -- OK
"Twenty
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Mr Wordy"Twenty people are affected, most live nearby."Hi Mr.W,
I am interested in finding out if this is ok. "Twenty people are affected, most living nearby." The reason for my curiosity is to confirm my own understanding of your analysis.
By modifying "live" to living, the comma is no long a splice and therefore making the sentence legal,
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dimsumexpressI am interested in finding out if this is ok. "Twenty people are affected, most living nearby."
Yes, this seems OK.
I'm wondering if the reducible ones are simply those where the full form of the second clause has "of which/whom" followed by a version of the verb "to be". For example,
"I saw several cars, most (of which wer
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Mr WordydimsumexpressI am interested in finding out if this is ok. "Twenty people are affected, most living nearby."
Yes, this seems OK.
I'm wondering if the reducible ones are simply those where the full form of the second clause has "of which/whom" followed by a version of the verb "to be". For example,
"I saw
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English 1b3It's not a matter of the verb to be as such. It's that the verb to be, followed by a past participle, means that it can be reduced because the verb is working adjectivally, not as a finite verb form.
However, not all of my examples are adjectival participles or non-finite verbs.
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