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Jukerlaw Posted 8 years ago
Grammar

What does this function as?

I got a sentence like this:
He's so handsome [that many girls love him].
The N.C. in bracket above, what does it function as? I know there're Complement and Modifier. Since the main clause He's so handsome is a finished sentence and it has meaning, I guess the N.C. functions as a modifier. But does a N.C. ever function as a modifier?

Thanks if you can break the sentence into syntax, I can understand more easily that way.

  

Top answer

" do you mean "noun clause"? "that many girls love him" is not a noun clause in your sentence. It is some kind of subordinate clause, but "that" cannot really be interpreted in isolation from "so".

— GPY

  • " do you mean "noun clause"?
  • "that many girls love him" is not a noun clause in your sentence.
  • It is some kind of subordinate clause, but "that" cannot really be interpreted in isolation from "so".
  • The pattern is "so X that Y".
  • While "He's so handsome" can be a sentence on its own, "so" does not have quite the same value.
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3 Answers
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By "N.C." do you mean "noun clause"? "that many girls love him" is not a noun clause in your sentence. It is some kind of subordinate clause, but "that" cannot really be interpreted in isolation from "so". The pattern is "so X that Y". While "He's so handsome" can be a sentence on its own, "so" does not have quite the same value. Without a "that" part, explicit or implicit, "He's so handsome"

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JukerlawHe's {[so ]PRE handsomeHEAD [that many girls love him]POST}.

As shown above, the AP (adjective phrase) contains a pre-head modifier and a post-head modifier. They go together to the extent that if you remove the pre-head modifier, you have to remove the post-head modifier as well; otherwise the sentence becomes ungr

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JukerlawHe's so handsome [that many girls love him]

In my opinion, the bracketed clause is a content clause which 'completes' the main clause He's so handsome.

(I'm a non-native.)

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