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Park sang joon Posted 10 years ago
Grammar
The analyses of a text #2
The protagonist, Philip works as a shop-walker.
He jut heard his friend Hayward died of a fever at the Cape.
Now he is in the British Museum.
* bas relief - Bas-relief is a technique of sculpture in which shapes are carved so that they stand out from the background.
There was one stone which was very beautiful, a bas relief of two young men holding each other's hand; and the reticence of line, the simplicity, made one like to think that the sculptor here had been touched with a genuine emotion. It was an exquisite memorial to that than which the world offers but one thing more precious, to a friendship
[Of Human Bondage by Somerset Maugham]
1. I'd like to know if the underlined clause means "the world offers but one thing more precious, to a friendship than an exquisite memorial to that."
2. And I'd like to know "that" refers to "a friendship."
Thank you in advance for your help.
He jut heard his friend Hayward died of a fever at the Cape.
Now he is in the British Museum.
* bas relief - Bas-relief is a technique of sculpture in which shapes are carved so that they stand out from the background.
There was one stone which was very beautiful, a bas relief of two young men holding each other's hand; and the reticence of line, the simplicity, made one like to think that the sculptor here had been touched with a genuine emotion. It was an exquisite memorial to that than which the world offers but one thing more precious, to a friendship
[Of Human Bondage by Somerset Maugham]
1. I'd like to know if the underlined clause means "the world offers but one thing more precious, to a friendship than an exquisite memorial to that."
2. And I'd like to know "that" refers to "a friendship."
Thank you in advance for your help.
Top answer
1. No. "that than which the world offers but one thing more precious" is a noun phrase meaning "the thing which is exceeded in preciousness by only one other thing in the world".
- 1.
- No.
- "that than which the world offers but one thing more precious" is a noun phrase meaning "the thing which is exceeded in preciousness by only one other thing in the world".
- 2.
- Yes, but I would put it round the other way: "a friendship" explains what "that" refers to.
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6 Answers
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1. No. "that than which the world offers but one thing more precious" is a noun phrase meaning "the thing which is exceeded in preciousness by only one other thing in the world".
2. Yes, but I would put it round the other way: "a friendship" explains what "that" refers to.
2. Yes, but I would put it round the other way: "a friendship" explains what "that" refers to.
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Thank you, GPY, for your so very helpful answer. 
1. Then I was wondering if "It was an exquisite memorial to that th
1. Then I was wondering if "It was an exquisite memorial to that th
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No.
The basic structure is this:
"It was an exquisite memorial to X, to a friendship."
where "a friendship" explains what X is referring to, and X means what I said above.
The basic structure is this:
"It was an exquisite memorial to X, to a friendship."
where "a friendship" explains what X is referring to, and X means what I said above.
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Thank you, GPY, for your continuing support.
I'm so sorry for my ignorance, but I can't figure out what role "than which" plays
I'm so sorry for my ignorance, but I can't figure out what role "than which" plays
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park sang joonSo I was wondering if "It was an exquisite memorial to that than which the world offers but one thing more precious, to a friendship" means "It was an exquisite memorial to that which the world offers but one thing more precious than,Yes.
"than which ..." is a relative clause modifying "that".
As:
I live
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GPY"that than which" is a rather unusual formal pattern.The only other example I know of that puts a "than" clause first is e e cummings' poem "than freedom is a breakfast food", though I think the present example might not be, strictly speaking, the same kind of inversion.
CJ
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