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Hello,Just wondering how to analise this sentence.“This was fair enough, for when there were no separate charged particles available-when all the charges were tucked away in balanced groups inside an atom as in ordinary objects around us- the electric and magnetic forces have nothing to latch on to.”‘Electric Universe’( David Bodanis)Is it a complex sentence with an appositional clause?”‘when all the charges were tucked away in balanced groups inside an atom as in ordinary objects around us’ Appositional Clause?‘the electric and magnetic forces have nothing to latch on to’ =Independent Clause/ sentence?‘there were no separate charged particles available’ =independent Clause/Sentence?‘This was fair enough’ This reads a bit like a conditional phrase?‘For when’ Also reads like a conditional phraseThanks.

BillJ · Accepted Answer

This was fair enough, [for [when there were no separate charged particles available - when all the charges were tucked away in balanced groups inside an atom as in ordinary objects around us] - the electric and magnetic forces have nothing to latch on to].

fold navyIs it a complex sentence with an appositional clause?

It is a complex sentence, but it is not an appositive construction since there is no appositive noun phrase. Only noun phrases can be appositives, not clauses.

fold navy”‘when all the charges were tucked away in balanced groups inside an atom as in ordinary objects around us’ Appositional Clause?

No, it’s a supplementary preposition phrase with "when" as head. For those who take “when” as a subordinator, it’s a clause.

fold navy‘the electric and magnetic forces have nothing to latch on to’ =Independent Clause/ sentence?

It’s a declarative clause as complement of the preposition “for”.

fold navy‘there were no separate charged particles available’ =independent Clause/Sentence?

It’s a declarative clause as complement of the prep “when”.

fold navy‘This was fair enough’ This reads a bit like a conditional phrase?

It’s a declarative clause. The rest of the sentence gives the reason that this was fair enough.

fold navy‘For when’ Also reads like a conditional phrase

“For when” is not a constituent, but a head + the initial word of a separate embedded preposition phrase. Thus, “for” is head of the matrix preposition phrase (in outer brackets), and “when” is head of the embedded preposition phrase (in inner brackets) that is its complement. In other words, the “when” PP is embedded inside the “for” PP.

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