In Constructions^x, Pronouns^x

CalifJim wrote:It seems to me that I've heard that construction here in the U.S. from time to time, but all in all, quite rarely. Maybe they were visitors from Canada? Afterthought: Can it be the influence of French?Lui et son amie, ils sont ... CJ Possibly, but only the Mountie knew any...

It seems to me that I've heard that construction here in the U.S. from time to time, but all in all, quite rarely. Maybe they were visitors from Canada? Afterthought: Can it be the influence of French? Lui et son amie, ils sont ... CJ

The original question I had to answer was is the cluase "that upset the audience" a noun clause or relative clause? I'm pretty sure it's a relative clause. Yes, it is, but it's not a common garden variety of relative clause because it is generated by a cleft construction. Also the pronoun...

So it's not local; it's spread across the entire breadth of the continent. What's interesting about it is that it's a fused relative construction with human denotation, headed by the relative pronoun lexeme who. And that is a possibility that has mostly been extinct for some fifty to a...

Tanit wrote: Hi, good question! I was wandering whether a slightly different point of view exists as for the subject of the sentence: He is one that knows the solution to the problem. or He is one of the few that know the solution to the problem. After some...

Zj.frank wrote:Dear all: He is one of the few that knows the solution to the problem. or He is one of the few that know the solution to the problem. Do the two "that"s denote different things? Shall we say that the first "that" denotes "he" while the second "that" denotes "the few"? If...

as well as "a fraction," and "all," the demonstrative pronoun "that" can be used just the same way!I think you have misunderstood. The of after a fraction or after "all" is optional. There is no parallel construction where the of after "that" is also optional. one-tenth of the population...

Cal, thanks a lot for this detailed answer; it takes time for me to digest it, and I believe I will learn a lot from it. Cheers, Osee CalifJim wrote:Yes, that's it. Thanks, Clive.With regard to your BTW:You are the only person I knew lived here in the city.Short answer: No. This is not a...

Yes, that's it. Thanks, Clive. With regard to your BTW: You are the only person I knew lived here in the city. Short answer: No. This is not a paraphrase of the original. (It doesn't mean the same thing.) ____________ Long answer: You have two relative clauses based on these...

See http://www.bartleby.com/64/C001/052.html Part of it states: than has been used as a preposition since the 1500s in sentences like John is taller than me. In these cases the pronoun is in the objective case where the rule would require the nominative. This construction appears in the...