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LONG HIN LAM Posted 7 years ago
Grammar

Relative pronoun

The following sentence is extracted from NZ Herald:

Schools are being encouraged to develop localised teaching units now that national standards have been abolished.

Is 'that' in the sentence a relative pronoun?

'that' is a relative pronoun which can be used to refer to the noun before it or provide more details about the noun. For example,

1. This is the apple that I brought yesterday.
2. I think that you should go home now.

However, in the quoted sentence, 'that' seems to function as 'because'.
National standards have been abolished = a reason of 'Schools are being encouraged to develop localised teaching units now'

Can 'that' be used in cases like this?

Thanks for helping!

  

Top answer

Think of ” now that” as “because the time has been reached when something has happened”

— Shermla

  • Think of ” now that” as “because the time has been reached when something has happened”
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3 Answers
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Think of ”now that” as “because the time has been reached when something has happened”

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Schools are being encouraged to develop localised teaching units [now that national standards have been abolished.]


No, "that" is not a relative pronoun here, but a subordinator introducing the underlined content clause which functions as complement of the preposition "now". The whole preposition phrase in brackets is an adju

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Every dictionary that I have checked gives the same answer – now, usually, but not always, followed by that, is a subordinating conjunction (subordinator), with the meanings of "since" or "inasmuch as." I have not found an entry in any reference that has "now" as a preposition. Here are a selection of dictionary entries:


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