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Jeff_999 Posted 21 years ago
Grammar
'that of ...'
Today I encountered this kinda sentence,
'Challenging new area in inorganic chemistry is that of understanding the role of transition metals in the biochemical catalyst called enzynes.
I suddenly feel unfamiliar with that. Because 'that' here doesn't act as a conj. to connect a clause, but it seems to act as a pronoun instead.
I was just wondering if it's commonly used.
Could you please give me some similar examples with complex structure like that?
'Challenging new area in inorganic chemistry is that of understanding the role of transition metals in the biochemical catalyst called enzynes.
I suddenly feel unfamiliar with that. Because 'that' here doesn't act as a conj. to connect a clause, but it seems to act as a pronoun instead.
I was just wondering if it's commonly used.
Could you please give me some similar examples with complex structure like that?
Top answer
Challenging new area in inorganic chemistry is that of understanding the role of transition metals in the biochemical catalyst called enzy m es. This "that" is indeed a (demonstrative) pronoun. You can use the demonstrative pronoun "that" to avoid repeating the noun you previously spoke/wrote.
- Challenging new area in inorganic chemistry is that of understanding the role of transition metals in the biochemical catalyst called enzy m es.
- This "that" is indeed a (demonstrative) pronoun.
- You can use the demonstrative pronoun "that" to avoid repeating the noun you previously spoke/wrote.
- I think this kind of usage of "that" is very common especially in formal writing.
- (EX-1) The temperature in Singapore is much higher than that in Tokyo.
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2 Answers
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Challenging new area in inorganic chemistry is that of understanding the role of transition metals in the biochemical catalyst called enzymes.
This "that" is indeed a (demonstrative) pronoun. You can use the demonstrative pronoun "that" to avoid repeating the noun you previously spoke/wrote. I think this kind of usage of "that" is very common especially in form
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I would agree. Just one thing, Jeff: your original example really needs an initial determiner, e.g.
'One challenging new area in inorganic chemistry is that of understanding the role of transition metals in the biochemical catalyst called enzymes.'
Or:
'A challenging new area in inorganic chemistry is that of understanding the role of transition metals
'One challenging new area in inorganic chemistry is that of understanding the role of transition metals in the biochemical catalyst called enzymes.'
Or:
'A challenging new area in inorganic chemistry is that of understanding the role of transition metals
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