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Anonymous Posted 11 years ago
Grammar
syntactic analysis
I need a bit of help with this sentence;
On Monday, David Cameron maintained that confronting Islamic extremism is “the struggle of our generation”.
Is it fair to say that that confronting Islamic extremism is “the struggle of our generation” is a direct object functioning as a relative clause where *that is functoning as the subject of the relative clause, confronting as the verbal and islamic extremism is the direct object.
If that is the case what function does *is “the struggle of our generation”* have? Is it the subject predicative or have I got this all wrong?
On Monday, David Cameron maintained that confronting Islamic extremism is “the struggle of our generation”.
Is it fair to say that that confronting Islamic extremism is “the struggle of our generation” is a direct object functioning as a relative clause where *that is functoning as the subject of the relative clause, confronting as the verbal and islamic extremism is the direct object.
If that is the case what function does *is “the struggle of our generation”* have? Is it the subject predicative or have I got this all wrong?
Top answer
Seems you are taking the same course as I am perhaps, as this sentence has blown a few fuses in my brain. I agree that the entire that-clause is a direct object. I do not see it as a nominal relative clause though because it starts with 'THAT'.
- Seems you are taking the same course as I am perhaps, as this sentence has blown a few fuses in my brain.
- I agree that the entire that-clause is a direct object.
- I do not see it as a nominal relative clause though because it starts with 'THAT'.
- what(ever), which(ever), who(ever) the struggle of our generation is an idiom and consists of two parts 'the struggle' (Noun phrase) and 'of our generation' which I see as a prepositional phrase.
- Combined they are a Noun phrase functioning as an object predicative.
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4 Answers
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Seems you are taking the same course as I am perhaps, as this sentence has blown a few fuses in my brain.
I agree that the entire that-clause is a direct object. I do not see it as a nominal relative clause though because it starts with 'THAT'. Nominal relative clauses takes WH-pronouns...what(ever), which(ever), who(ever)
the struggle of our generation is an idiom and consists o
I agree that the entire that-clause is a direct object. I do not see it as a nominal relative clause though because it starts with 'THAT'. Nominal relative clauses takes WH-pronouns...what(ever), which(ever), who(ever)
the struggle of our generation is an idiom and consists o
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This may go against received wisdom, but I personally find it completely non-intuitive to view "that confronting ..." as the object of "maintained". To me, this kind of analysis with "that" always seems like a fudge that does not reflect the way the meaning is actually perceived.
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Good point, and I am not sure if the confronting in fact is a part of the object, but what else can it be? It doesn't appear to function as a verbal, so I put it in the noun phrase to make some sense of it. At least as a gerund it has some purpose there. BUT I am no expert, but a struggling student...
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AnonymousGood point, and I am not sure if the confronting in fact is a part of the object, but what else can it be?"confronting Islamic extremism" is a noun phrase.
"confronting Islamic extremism is 'the struggle of our generation'" is a statement that describes what was maintained.
My issue is with the interpretation:
[maintained]
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