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Liveinjapan

#538184 Tue, 08 Jul 08 09:28 AM

I often ask teachers here about my questions of grammar, saying the words below.

Where does it refer?

Where does it refer to?

What does it refer to?

Are they all correct?

Thanks in advance.

Liveinjapan

Joined on Sun, Feb 4 2007

Osaka, Japan

Contributing Member (1,603)

Please feel free to correct any words I wrote.LiJ

Grammar

CalifJim

#538187 Tue, 08 Jul 08 09:50 AM

If they are questions of grammar, why are you using the singular it in your examples?

What does it refer to? and What do they refer to? are the only ones that make sense to me. But I don't see how these can be questions about your questions of grammar. If you wrote the questions, you should already know what they refer to, so why are you asking others what they refer to? Tongue Tied

I think I am not understanding your question very well.

CalifJim

Joined on Mon, Aug 2 2004

California

Veteran Member (16,979)

"There are no facts, only interpretations" - Nietzsche

Grammar

Liveinjapan

#538197 Tue, 08 Jul 08 10:20 AM

Thanks, CJ.

In another post of mine, I said, "What does the clause that starts with deciding refer to?"

I wanted to know if it is correct.

Liveinjapan

Clauses

Marius Hancu

#538239 Tue, 08 Jul 08 12:41 PM

>"What does the clause that starts with deciding refer to?"

Fine

>I wanted to know if it is correct.

want (you still want to know that)

Marius Hancu

Joined on Wed, Apr 26 2006

Montreal, Canada

Veteran Member (11,673)

Clauses

CalifJim

#538544 Tue, 08 Jul 08 10:50 PM

I think he means that when he wrote the post he wanted to know if it was correct.

CalifJim

#538549 Tue, 08 Jul 08 10:57 PM

Liveinjapan
What does the clause that starts with deciding refer to?

Yes, I noticed that post later, and then I had a better idea of what you wanted in this post. refer to is not exactly correct, in my opinion, although it's understandable. Strictly speaking, only nouns and pronouns can refer. I think you want to say:

What are the clauses that start with deciding associated with (earlier in the sentence)?

or What are the clauses that start with deciding related to (earlier in the sentence)?

or How do the clauses that start with deciding relate to the rest of the sentence?

or What are the clauses that start with deciding examples of?

CalifJim

Clauses, Nouns, Pronouns

Liveinjapan

#538589 Wed, 09 Jul 08 02:20 AM

Thanks, Marius and CJ.

Nouns or pronouns can refer to something; Clauses can relate, be related, be associated with, or examples of something.

Got it!

Liveinjapan

Clauses, Nouns, Pronouns

CalifJim

#538640 Wed, 09 Jul 08 08:09 AM

Liveinjapan
Nouns or pronouns can refer to something

Yes. In this definition of "refer", the noun or pronoun always refers to its counterpart in the real world.

I am looking at a table here, for example. When I use the word "table", I expect my listener to know that I am referring to that object here before me that I am looking at. The word "table" refers to the real table.

Expanding this idea further, when you have sentences like these:

Mike went home early. Then he went to sleep.

both the word "Mike" and the word "he" refer to the same person in the real world, so we sometimes say that "he" refers to "Mike", when actually "he" refers to Mike (no quotes). "he" does not refer to another word ("Mike"), but to a person in the real world -- Mike -- just as "Mike" refers to Mike. "Mike" and "he" are coreferential; that is, they both refer to the same person in the real world. We use the terms loosely, however, and people often say that "he" refers to "Mike" in those sentences.

CalifJim

Nouns, Pronouns

Liveinjapan

#539202 Thu, 10 Jul 08 07:45 AM

Thanks, CJ.

The explanations of Mike, "Mike", and "he" are of great importance for learners!

Liveinjapan