Thursday, June 20, 2024

10.07.24: Level 2: Sentence structure [3]; [i] relative / adjectival clauses [ii] relative pronoun [iii] antecedent

Image #1

[1] Yesterday I bought a new car [2] which was very expensive.

“which was very expensive” is also a subordinate clause; it too cannot stand alone. However, clauses that are introduced by ‘who’, ‘which’ or ‘that’ are called relative clauses or adjectival clauses because they give additional information about a person or a thing in the main / principal clause. More will be done on this in later posts. What matters here is to become familiar with the terms used when this clause type is being discussed.

[1] Yesterday I bought a new car [principal / main clause] ¦ [2] which was very expensive [relative clause].

The words ‘who / which / that’ are all used in English as relative pronouns, the word that refers to the person or thing in the main clause. There is a lot more to that which will be discussed in later posts. The main aim here is to become familiar with the terms used.

1. The girl who is crying caused the problem herself.

2. Yesterday I bought a car which was very expensive.

3. The dog that’s been barking all night is getting on my nerves.

Image #2

In Latin, those English relative pronouns are all expressed by quīquae and quod.

Image #3: antecedent

The term ‘antecedent’ refers to the person(s) or thing(s) to which the relative pronoun refers.

I bought a new car ¦ whichwas very expensive.

The film ¦ that you’re watching ¦ looks interesting.

I saw a man ¦ who was acting suspiciously.

[1] Aequī [antecedent] ¦ [2] quī [relative pronoun] in parte Latiī habitābant, [1] bellum contrā populum Rōmānum gerēbant. [principal clause].

  • [1] The Aequi, ¦ [2] who lived in a part of Latium, ¦ [1] were waging war against the Roman people.

[1] Equum [antecedent] magnum et ligneum aedificant, ¦ [2] quem [relative pronoun] virīs complent.

  • [1] They build a large and wooden horse ¦ [2] which they fill with men.





 

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