> I have been putting a grammar course on-line, with answer keys, and I'm >wondering how members of ATEG would explain "as many travelers will remember" >in the following sentence from the opening paragraph of James' "Daisy Miller": > >There are, indeed, many hotels, for the entertainment of tourists is the >business of the place, which, as many travelers will remember, is seated upon >the edge of a remarkably blue lake--a lake that it behooves every tourist to >visit. > >You might also want to comment on the function of the "for" clause. I will >probably include some of your comments as notes Ų disagreements :) Ų to my >explanation. > >Thanks, >Ed Burkhard and Terry and Dick have given all of us--and Ed, of course--lots of food for thought. My own grammar gurus, Quirk et al. ("A Comprehensive Grammar of the English Language") discuss this kind of "as" clause under the heading "comment clauses" in their chapter entitled "Syntactic and semantic functions of subordinate clauses." I'm quoting from section 15.55. The discussion begins with this definition and example: "Comment clauses are parenthetical disjuncts. They may occur initially, finally, or medially, and thus generally have a separate tone unit: Kingston, as you probably know, is the capital of Jamaica. [They include the marks of prosody in this example.) Two pages later they explain further this particular construction, which looks very much like Ed's example: "Type (ii) comment clausesare introduced by "as." "As" serves one of two syntactic functions in these clauses: as a relative or as a subordinator. "In its relative function, "as" introduces a type of sentential relative clause that may precede or be inserted in its antecedent, in this case the clause or sentence to which it is attached. In its mobility, this as-clause is intermediate between the relative and adverbial constructions. Like the sentential relative "which," "as" may function as a relative pronoun: She is extremely popular among students, as is common knowledge (cf: which is common knowledge) I live a long way from work, as you know (cf: which you know) "Other examples of clauses with relative as: as everybody knows, as you may remember, as you say" As you see, they are placing this construction as "intermediate between the relative and adverbial constructions." (They do the same in their discussion of "for," as I mentioned in my earlier letter.) Their discussion also makes clear the metadiscourse nature of such clauses. For example, they mention that "type ii" comment clauses are affirmative, implying the truth of the matrix clause. They contrast the following as an example: "George, as you said, is a liar." vs. "George, you said, is a liar [but I don't believe you]." I don't know what kind of insights you're expecting from your students, Ed, but if you're looking for a single "right" answer, you might want to find another example! Martha P.S. to DollyMama: We've all egged our faces from time to time (I may have done it here!). Don't let that little goof deter you from joining the conversation. We're all learning from one another.