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Paco2004 Posted 22 years ago
Grammar
Relative clause separation
Hi Teachers.
(1) A letter arrived yesterday which was addressed to Mary.
(2) The letter arrived yesterday which was addressed to Mary.
I've read in a linguistic literature that native speakers accept (1) but they feel some oddness in (2).
Is it true? If it is so, why?
paco2004
(1) A letter arrived yesterday which was addressed to Mary.
(2) The letter arrived yesterday which was addressed to Mary.
I've read in a linguistic literature that native speakers accept (1) but they feel some oddness in (2).
Is it true? If it is so, why?
paco2004
Top answer
It does sound odd. Perhaps there is some technical grammar reason which is beyond me. The first sentence tells me about one letter, which could have been one of many letters that arrived, but that one was addressed to Mary.
- It does sound odd.
- Perhaps there is some technical grammar reason which is beyond me.
- The first sentence tells me about one letter, which could have been one of many letters that arrived, but that one was addressed to Mary.
- Using 'the' in the second sentence means either of two things to me.
- 1)Only one letter arrived yesterday, in which case I would say, The letter that arrived yesterday was addressed to Mary.
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3 Answers
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It does sound odd. Perhaps there is some technical grammar reason which is beyond me.
The first sentence tells me about one letter, which could have been one of many letters that arrived, but that one was addressed to Mary.
Using 'the' in the second sentence means either of two things to me.
1)Only one letter arrived yesterday, in which case I would say,
T
The first sentence tells me about one letter, which could have been one of many letters that arrived, but that one was addressed to Mary.
Using 'the' in the second sentence means either of two things to me.
1)Only one letter arrived yesterday, in which case I would say,
T
00
Hi,
I find (1) acceptable, but (2) does sound odd. I'm unsure of the technicalities, but I think it has something to do with intonation and the mind expecting a pause to come after yesterday.
This is how I would rephrase (2):
The letter arrived yesterday -- It was addressed to Mary.
I find (1) acceptable, but (2) does sound odd. I'm unsure of the technicalities, but I think it has something to do with intonation and the mind expecting a pause to come after yesterday.
This is how I would rephrase (2):
The letter arrived yesterday -- It was addressed to Mary.
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Nona and Matthew
Your replies are very helpful. The literature said that grammarians call this kind of clause's rightward movement as extraposition. When the subject determiner is 'a', we can move the restrictive relative clause but when it is 'the' we can't. I didn't still grasp the reason but anyway what Matthew felt proves it is true. Thank you.
paco
Your replies are very helpful. The literature said that grammarians call this kind of clause's rightward movement as extraposition. When the subject determiner is 'a', we can move the restrictive relative clause but when it is 'the' we can't. I didn't still grasp the reason but anyway what Matthew felt proves it is true. Thank you.
paco
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