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Deepcosmos Posted 5 years ago
Grammar

‘that’ is relative pronoun or relative adverb?

Hello, everyone,

Over a period of time the buildings which housed social, legal, religious, and other rituals evolved into forms that we subsequently have come to recognize and associate with those buildings’ function. This is a two-way process; the building provides the physical environment and setting for a particular social ritual such as traveling by train or going to the theater, as well as the symbolic setting.”

* source; https://books.google.co.kr/books?id=il-mBgAAQBAJ&pg=PA23&lpg=PA23&dq=%22Over+a+period+of+time+the+buildings+which+housed+social,+legal,+religious,+and+other+rituals+evolved+into+forms%22&source=bl&ots=sIZ7a4YORs&sig=ACfU3U1qzAt81_1PuUUjfN12Rp0FQNgbpw&hl=ko&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiv3ebI4qH0AhVBrlYBHQ_bAqM4ChDoAXoECBYQAw#v=onepage&q=%22Over%20a%20period%20of%20time%20the%20buildings%20which%20housed%20social%2C%20legal%2C%20religious%2C%20and%20other%20rituals%20evolved%20into%20forms%22&f=false

For the ‘that’ in the first sentence I parse in following two ways;

1) " ~ evolved into <forms=common antecedent> [that we subsequently have come to recognize (forms) and associate (forms) with those buildings’ function].“

* ‘that’ is the objective relative pronoun for the transitive verb - ‘recognize’ and ‘associate’

2) " ~ evolved into <forms> [that we subsequently have come to recognize and associate with those buildings’ function (in the forms)].“

* ‘that’ is the substitute of ‘where’ for the prepositional phrase - ‘in the forms’ and equals to ’in which’ or ‘where’.

Since I think two parsers maybe possible syntactically but I guess 2) is correct semantically, your valuable clarification would be much appreciated.

  

Top answer

deepcosmos Over a period of time the buildings which housed social, legal, religious, and other rituals evolved into forms that we subsequently have come to recognize and associate with those buildings’ function. It's my take on it: Over a period of time - the PP (form); adjunct (function; a modifier in the main clause structure); the buildings which housed social, legal, religious, and other rituals - the NP (form); subject (function); evolved into forms that we subsequently have come to recognize and associate with those buildings’ function - the VP (form); predicate (function) where: evolved - a verb (form); predicator (function); into forms that we subsequently have come to recognize and associate with those buildings’ function - the PP (form); a complement in the VP (function) where: forms that we subsequently have come to recognize and associate with those buildings’ function - the NP (form); complement in the PP (function) where: forms - a noun (form); head of the NP (function); that we subsequently have come to recognize and associate with those buildings’ function - a relative clause (form); a modifier in the NP (function).

  • deepcosmos Over a period of time the buildings which housed social, legal, religious, and other rituals evolved into forms that we subsequently have come to recognize and associate with those buildings’ function.
  • It's my take on it: Over a period of time - the PP (form); adjunct (function; a modifier in the main clause structure); the buildings which housed social, legal, religious, and other rituals - the NP (form); subject (function); evolved into forms that we subsequently have come to recognize and associate with those buildings’ function - the VP (form); predicate (function) where: evolved - a verb (form); predicator (function); into forms that we subsequently have come to recognize and associate with those buildings’ function - the PP (form); a complement in the VP (function) where: forms that we subsequently have come to recognize and associate with those buildings’ function - the NP (form); complement in the PP (function) where: forms - a noun (form); head of the NP (function); that we subsequently have come to recognize and associate with those buildings’ function - a relative clause (form); a modifier in the NP (function).
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2 Answers
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deepcosmosOver a period of time the buildings which housed social, legal, religious, and other rituals evolved into forms that we subsequently have come to recognize and associate with those buildings’ function.

It's my take on it:

Over a period of time - the PP (form); adjunct (function; a modifier in the main clause structure);

the b

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Only your first explanation makes sense to me.

CJ

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