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English 1b3 Posted 16 years ago
Grammar

'Such that'

The difficulty of the procedure is such that the surgeons are paid a more-than-healthy sum.

Do we only use 'such that' when the subject is the noun form of an adjective, such as difficulty?

Or is this OK, even though it is unclear exactly what such refers to...so what? so tricky, so long?

The procedure is such that the surgeons are paid a more-than-healthy sum.



Also, what clause type is 'that the surgeons...'?





Thanks
  

Top answer

The difficulty of the procedure is such that the surgeons are paid a more-than-healthy sum. You are confusing two forms of usage: 1. The difficulty of the procedure is such, that the surgeons...

— Terryxpress

  • The difficulty of the procedure is such that the surgeons are paid a more-than-healthy sum.
  • You are confusing two forms of usage: 1.
  • The difficulty of the procedure is such, that the surgeons...
  • You have to imagine a comma between the two words; and notice that 'such' comes after a verb: it is used as a pronoun, and refers back to 'difficulty'.
  • " Compare with the second type of usage: 2.
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6 Answers
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The difficulty of the procedure is such that the surgeons are paid a more-than-healthy sum.

You are confusing two forms of usage:
1. The difficulty of the procedure is such, that the surgeons...

You have to imagine a comma between the two words; and notice that 'such' comes after a verb: it is used as a pronoun, and refers back to 'difficulty'. Hence, you could equall
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Terryxpress
You are confusing two forms of usage:


Hi, how am I confusing the two uses?
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Let's first establish there ARE two uses:

Try putting a comma after 'such' in my given sentence:
The linking of sentences such, that they form...

compare this to my response to your No.1.

Try putting 'such that' at the beginning of my sentence:

...such that the linking of sentences forms a continuous narrative.

I pointed out that this was not possi
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So - we have 'such that' as inseparable, and is a conjunction:

The linking of sentences, such that they form a narrative, is the basis...

and the collocation of 'such' and 'that', where 'such' is used as a pronoun, referring back to the noun, as in your original sentence, and hence, could be rewritten:
"Such is the difficulty...that.."

In suggesting they are
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I never said they were interchangeable. In fact, I was never asking about the second construction you discussed.

The difficulty of the procedure is such that the surgeons are paid a more-than-healthy sum.

(the difficulty of the procedure is so bad that the surgeons are paid...)

The procedure is such that the surgeons are paid a more-than-health
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TerryxpressSo - we have 'such that' as inseparable, and is a conjunction:

The linking of sentences, such that they form a narrative, is the basis...

and the collocation of 'such' and 'that', where 'such' is used as a pronoun, referring back to the noun, as in your original sentence, and hence, could be rewritten:
"Such is the difficulty...that
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