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To: walkingman
Could we say

"Her genuis enabled Toni Morrison...blah, blah, blah,"

(I still think it should be "which arise from", not "that arise from")

Honestly, I don't think the guy is correct.

20 posted on 05/15/2003 4:22:13 PM PDT by ZinGirl
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To: ZinGirl
(I still think it should be "which arise from", not "that arise from")

Free grammar lesson about a subject many people find confusing [and I did until I read the rules that clear things up]

The relative pronoun "that" is used to limit the scope of something else. The relative pronoun "which" is used to add detail but not limit scope.

Consider the sentence:

The outbuilding ___ is ten feet from Joe's house [,] is painted orange.
In deciding whether to insert , «which» or «that», you should ask yourself this question: if the subordinate clause were stricken, would the reader know what outbuilding was being discussed? If the answer to that question is yes, the proper relative pronoun is «which» [which requires commas to separate its subordinate clause]. If the answer is no, then the proper relative pronoun is «that».

Example #1:

This block has twelve houses and a small outbuilding. The outbuilding, which is ten feet from Joe's house, is painted orange.
Here it's obvious what outbuilding is being referred to. It's the "small outbuilding" referred to in the previous paragraph, and it's the only one on the block. The subordinate clause informs the reader of the location of the building.

Example #2

The block has twelve houses and fifteen outbuildings, most of which are brown. The outbuilding that is ten feet from Joe's house is painted orange.
Here, were it not for the subordinate clause, it would be unclear which outbuilding was being referred to(*). The subordinate clause exists not to tell the reader the location of an outbuilding, but rather provides a means by which a reader who knows where the outbuildings are located can tell which one is orange.

(*) I know some 18th-century grammarians decided ending sentences with prepositions was evil. I don't care. The passive voice is less verbose and clearer than the active voice "...it would be unclear to which outbuilding the word 'outbuilding' in the second sentence was referring", and "refer" is a more accurate verb than "discuss". Trailing prepositions were good enough for Shakespeare, and they're good enough for me.

160 posted on 05/16/2003 12:08:56 AM PDT by supercat (TAG--you're it!)
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