That's pretty much what I would say, except that I'd call the whole thing [a Washington attorney who served as the last
Transportation secretary in the Reagan administration in 1987-89] an appositive and say that the appositive had a restrictive relative clause embedded in it. 
i.e., this particular appositive = determiner + noun + NOUN HEADWORD + relative clause.  

Maybe that's what you were saying,

Beth

Dr. Beth Rapp Young
http://pegasus.cc.ucf.edu/~byoung

University of Central Florida
Reach for the Stars

>>> Natalie Gerber <[log in to unmask]> 4/23/2009 2:06 PM >>>
Dear all,

 

May I ask for your help parsing the relative clause in the following
example?

 

James Bunley, a Washington attorney who served as the last
Transportation secretary in the Reagan administration in 1987089, says
the complexity of Next-Gen is one of the reasons the new system hasn't
gained funding.

 

I analyze this example as a restrictive relative clause specifying which
Washington attorney; i.e., a restrictive relative clause modifying an
appositive, which itself is a nonrestrictive element modifying the
proper noun James Bunley. Is this correct?

 

Thanks very much,

Natalie

____________________

Natalie Gerber, Ph.D.

Assistant Professor

Department of English

SUNY Fredonia

ph. (716) 673-3855

fax (716) 673-4661

[log in to unmask] <mailto:[log in to unmask]> 

 


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