The paper, which...
"The paper, which relies on climate scenarios developed by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change for its simulation models, adds to existing studies that offered similarly grim predictions for wildlife in the Sundarbans."
(From New York Times.)
I understand that the relative non-defining clause which relies on climate scenarios developed by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change for its simulation models is an adjunct in the sentence above. The adjunct refers to (modifies) the noun "The paper".
My question is: can a noun phrase be cited with commas when parsing the sentence? Should it be The paper, which relies on climate scenarios developed by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change for its simulation models, or The paper which relies on climate scenarios developed by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change for its simulation models?
Top answer
The paper, which relies on climate scenarios developed by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change for its simulation models , adds to existing studies that offered similarly grim predictions for wildlife in the Sundarbans. No, it's not an adjunct and nor is it a modifier. It's a supplementary (non-defining) relative clause.
- The paper, which relies on climate scenarios developed by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change for its simulation models , adds to existing studies that offered similarly grim predictions for wildlife in the Sundarbans.
- No, it's not an adjunct and nor is it a modifier.
- It's a supplementary (non-defining) relative clause.
- It's important to realise that supplements don't modify anything; instead, they relate to a semantic 'anchor'.
- In this case the anchor is the NP "the paper".
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The paper, which relies on climate scenarios developed by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change for its simulation models, adds to existing studies that offered similarly grim predictions for wildlife in the Sundarbans.
No, it's not an adjunct and nor is it a modifier.
It's a supplementary (non-defining) relative clause. It's important to realise that sup
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