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Sun, 28 Mar 1999 12:10:37 -0500 |
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Re: The roles of the various that's in the sentence:
That that that that man ate was poisonous shocked Max.
Martha Kolln wrote:
>Dick:
>
>This is so easy to illustrate with a traditional diagram!
>
>(1) The first that is what I call an expletive--i.e., the that that
>introduces a nominal clause (in this case, the clause as subject of
>shocked); some linguists call it a nominalizer; (in a simpler sentence it
>would read "That the mushroom was poisonous shocked Max)
>(2) the second that is a demonstrative pronoun, the headword of the noun
>phrase that is the subject of shocked; it's a noun phrase (or, in this
>case, pronoun phrase) with one post-pronoun modifier, a relative clause);
>(3) the third that is, indeed, a relative pronoun, direct object of the
>verb ate in the relative clause; the clause is "that man ate that";
>(4) the fourth is the demonstrative pronoun that, functioning as a
>determiner for the subject headword man in the relative clause--i.e., that
>man.
>
>A traditional diagram would clear this up in no time flat!
>
>Martha Kolln
Martha:
As usual, you are faultless and win a very honorable mention.
I'd also call #1 a "complementizer" or "complementizing conjunction" since
it introduces a complement clause. I'd also call #4 a "demonstative
determiner" to distinguish it from the strictly pronominal use of the
demonstrative in #2.
I can't help adding that a tree diagram would also easily clear this us
(and label all the parts, to boot!). I posted it in case you'd like to see
it:
http://www.uncwil.edu/people/veit/DEG/That_that.htm
Dick
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