that

Question

Byron possessed powers of observation that would have made him a great anthropologist and that makes his letters as a group the rival of the best novels of the time.Any idea what the both 'that' referring to?  whether "observation" or "powers of observation"? I dont see a parallisim there.. second 'that' must have procceeded by would. any thoughts?

Philip · Accepted Answer

SarangadharByron possessed powers of observation that would have made him a great anthropologist and that ~~makes~~ [make] his letters as a group the rival of the best novels of the time.

Any idea what the both 'that' referring to? whether "observation" or "powers of observation"? I dont see a parallisim there.. second 'that' must have procceeded by would. any thoughts?

Both refer to the "powers of observation". The sentence is a little thick, however.

Sarangadhar · Answer

Philip
Sarangadhar
Byron possessed powers of observation that would have made him a great anthropologist and that ~~makes~~ [make] his letters as a group the rival of the best novels of the time.

Any idea what the both 'that' referring to? whether "observation" or "powers of observation"? I dont see a parallisim there.. second 'that' must have procceeded by would. any thoughts?

Both refer to the "powers of observation". The sentence is a little thick, however.

Here we have a "that" that comes right after the prepositional phrase. this is a different situation because "that" refers directly to the word before it and then links that word to a clause, verb, etc that comes directly after "that". Hence I believe "would ahve made him...." and "makes his letters as a group...." refers to "observation", but not the "powers of observation".

If 'that' was not there, then we could assume that "makes his letters..." refers to "powers of observation".

what do you say?

Philip · Answer

Sarangadhar
Philip
Sarangadhar
Byron possessed powers of observation that would have made him a great anthropologist and that ~~makes~~ [make] his letters as a group the rival of the best novels of the time.

Any idea what the both 'that' referring to? whether "observation" or "powers of observation"? I dont see a parallisim there.. second 'that' must have procceeded by would. any thoughts?

Both refer to the "powers of observation". The sentence is a little thick, however.
Here we have a "that" that comes right after the prepositional phrase. this is a different situation because "that" refers directly to the word before it and then links that word to a clause, verb, etc that comes directly after "that". Hence I believe "would ahve made him...." and "makes his letters as a group...." refers to "observation", but not the "powers of observation".

If 'that' was not there, then we could assume that "makes his letters..." refers to "powers of observation".

what do you say?

Byron possessed powers of observation that would have made him a great anthropologist, and that [fact] makes his letters as a group the rival of the best novels of the time. That little comma could make a great difference in the meaning of the sentence. Do you think this is the intent of the original? That the entire concept of his powers of observation and his qualities of an anthropologist influence the literary aspect of the letters?

Anonymous · Answer

I found it in sentence corrections. I can not exactly tell the intention of the author.

your intention is correc twhen there is a comma. But, when there is not comma, I feel the caluse after 'that' refers to teh wrd immediately before it.

Or, if I am wrong, can you please throw some more light?

that

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