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Park sang joon Posted 10 years ago
Grammar
The analysis of a text #1
The narrator recalls his adolescence.
He was an apprentice for Mr. Spenlow.
He and Mr. Spenlow's only daughter Dora fell in love with each other, but after Mr. Spenlow's sudden death, she moved in with her two aunts and confined herself there.
He made an appointment with Dora's aunts to visit them through correspondence and came Dora's aunts' house with his best friend Traddles.
Miss Lavinia and Clarissa are Dora's aunts; Miss Lavinia, the younger one took the lead in this conversation.
Franscis is Dora's father.
..............
'We had not,' said Miss Clarissa, 'been in the habit of frequent association with our brother Francis; but there was no decided division or disunion between us. Francis took his road; we took ours. We considered it conducive to the happiness of all parties that it should be so. And it was so.'
..............
Miss Lavinia was going on to make some rejoinder, when Miss Clarissa, who appeared to be incessantly beset by a desire to refer to her brother Francis, struck in again:
'If Dora's mama,' she said, 'when she married our brother Francis, had at once said that there was not room for the family at the dinner-table, it would have been better for the happiness of all parties.'
'Sister Clarissa,' said Miss Lavinia. 'Perhaps we needn't mind that now.'
'Sister Lavinia,' said Miss Clarissa, 'it belongs to the subject. With your branch of the subject, on which alone you are competent to speak, I should not think of interfering. On this branch of the subject I have a voice and an opinion. It would have been better for the happiness of all parties, if Dora's mama, when she married our brother Francis, had mentioned plainly what her intentions were. We should then have known what we had to expect. We should have said "Pray do not invite us, at any time"; and all possibility of misunderstanding would have been avoided.'
[David Copperfield by Charles Dickens]
I'd like to know if "this branch of the subject is the same as "it."
Thank you in advance for your help.
He was an apprentice for Mr. Spenlow.
He and Mr. Spenlow's only daughter Dora fell in love with each other, but after Mr. Spenlow's sudden death, she moved in with her two aunts and confined herself there.
He made an appointment with Dora's aunts to visit them through correspondence and came Dora's aunts' house with his best friend Traddles.
Miss Lavinia and Clarissa are Dora's aunts; Miss Lavinia, the younger one took the lead in this conversation.
Franscis is Dora's father.
..............
'We had not,' said Miss Clarissa, 'been in the habit of frequent association with our brother Francis; but there was no decided division or disunion between us. Francis took his road; we took ours. We considered it conducive to the happiness of all parties that it should be so. And it was so.'
..............
Miss Lavinia was going on to make some rejoinder, when Miss Clarissa, who appeared to be incessantly beset by a desire to refer to her brother Francis, struck in again:
'If Dora's mama,' she said, 'when she married our brother Francis, had at once said that there was not room for the family at the dinner-table, it would have been better for the happiness of all parties.'
'Sister Clarissa,' said Miss Lavinia. 'Perhaps we needn't mind that now.'
'Sister Lavinia,' said Miss Clarissa, 'it belongs to the subject. With your branch of the subject, on which alone you are competent to speak, I should not think of interfering. On this branch of the subject I have a voice and an opinion. It would have been better for the happiness of all parties, if Dora's mama, when she married our brother Francis, had mentioned plainly what her intentions were. We should then have known what we had to expect. We should have said "Pray do not invite us, at any time"; and all possibility of misunderstanding would have been avoided.'
[David Copperfield by Charles Dickens]
I'd like to know if "this branch of the subject is the same as "it."
Thank you in advance for your help.
Top answer
e. the thing that she has just been talking about.
- e.
- the thing that she has just been talking about.
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3 Answers
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"it" refers to the same thing as "that" in the previous utterance, i.e. the thing that she has just been talking about.
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Thank you, GPY, for your so very kind answer. 
I was wondering if "it" indicates Miss Clarissa's branch of the subject , as you
I was wondering if "it" indicates Miss Clarissa's branch of the subject , as you
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park sang joonI was wondering if "it" indicates Miss Clarissa's branch of the subject , as you said,?the reason they went separate ways.No, I don't think so. I think if anything, in the sentence "it belongs to the subject", it is "the subject", not "it", that refers to the same thing as "this branch of the subject".
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