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Anonymous Posted 12 years ago
Grammar
sentence analysis
This on-going debate repeatedly attracted media attention, which is why ‘Elgin Marbles' is a telling name around the world.
the part I'm wondering about is "which is why".
Firstly: whch word classes are which is why?is "which a relative pronoun and why an adverb of reason?
Secondly: "is" is not a lexical verb, is it? Therefore is has no transitivity, right?
the part I'm wondering about is "which is why".
Firstly: whch word classes are which is why?is "which a relative pronoun and why an adverb of reason?
Secondly: "is" is not a lexical verb, is it? Therefore is has no transitivity, right?
Top answer
lala25 Secondly: "is" is not a lexical verb, is it? Therefore is has no transitivity, right? "is" is the main verb in the clause.
- lala25 Secondly: "is" is not a lexical verb, is it?
- Therefore is has no transitivity, right?
- "is" is the main verb in the clause.
- It is intransitive.
- It is not an auxiliary verb, so it is a lexical verb.
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2 Answers
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lala25Secondly: "is" is not a lexical verb, is it? Therefore is has no transitivity, right?"is" is the main verb in the clause. It is intransitive. It is not an auxiliary verb, so it is a lexical verb.
lala25the part I'm wondering about is "which is why".Which is a pronoun introducing the clause. It is the subject of the v
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Is may be the main verb of its clause, but it still qualifies as an auxiliary. In subject-auxiliary inversion it can invert with the subject (Is this why…?), whereas a lexical verb would require insertion of the dummy auxiliary do (Did he die?).
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