Of those

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Anonymous

#264102 Fri, 08 Sep 06 09:08 AM

The fact that only 22 persons became ill, and of those only 5 died, is a tribute to the rapid and effective response of the clinicians and public health workers involved.

My question: How to explain the grammar structure of "of those" in the above sentence?

Anonymous

Grammar

Mister Micawber

#264114 Fri, 08 Sep 06 10:22 AM

of those only 5 died = only 5 of those died.

Those is the object of the prepositional phrase, of those, modifying 5; those is at the same time a demonstrative pronoun whose referrent is 22 persons. That's how I see it.

Mister Micawber

Joined on Wed, Aug 4 2004

Yokohama

Veteran Member (22,688)

'The question is,' said Humpty Dumpty, 'which is to be master-- that's all.'

Nouns, Pronouns

Anonymous

#264200 Fri, 08 Sep 06 03:07 PM

Why "of those" move to in front of "only 5"? What is the grammar rule governing this?

Anonymous

Grammar

Mister Micawber

#264211 Fri, 08 Sep 06 03:33 PM

There is no 'rule', svforumer. Some lexical or grammatical units of English sentences can be relocated, that is all:

Are you already finished? = Are you finished already?
I want to bring up a new topic = I want to bring a new topic up
In the morning, I always shower = I always shower in the morning
of those only 5 died = only 5 of those died

Mister Micawber