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chubbyhana
Joined: 05 Jun 2008
Posts: 13
Location: Beijing
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 Posted: Sun Jun 15, 2008 7:25 pm Post subject: " that " and " that of " ??? |
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Dear all:
<A> "The more slowly the moisture evaporates, the less the amount of
water that may run off rather than penetrate soil.
Can I rewrite this sentence without " that "?
What's the meaning of " that " here?
<B> "In 1974, one company succeeded in producing an artificial diamond
of high quality, but its cost price was considerably higher than
that of a natural stone."
What's the meaning of " that of " here?
How to write a complete sentence here?
Thanks for helping me.... chubbyhana |
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rice07
Joined: 26 Oct 2007
Posts: 385
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| Posted: Mon Jun 16, 2008 3:35 am Post subject: Re: " that " and " that of " ??? |
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| chubbyhana wrote: |
<A> "The more slowly the moisture evaporates, the less the amount of
water that may run off rather than penetrate soil. |
' that may run off rather than penetrate soil ' is an identifying(restrictive) relative clause referring to ' the amount of water '. ' that ' is a relative pronoun in this case served as the subject of the identifying relative clause.
| Quote: |
Can I rewrite this sentence without " that "?
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No, you can't, because ' that ' is the 'subject ' of the clause. But you can drop RP ' that ' from the clause, if ' that ' is served as the object of the clause anyway. Like:
- I feel sorry for the man (whom / that) she married.
- Did you like the wine (which / that) we drank last night?
By the way, if you want to leave out RP ' that ' from the clause. The clause might be rewritten into present participle structure ' may running off rather than penetrating soil '. But I suppose that that (the rewritten) might meet the grammar rules, that(the rewritten) wouldn't better match the structure of the main clause(The more slowly the moisture evaporates) than the original( that may run off rather than penetrate soil) did, despite the fact that ' the less the amount of water that may run off rather than penetrate soil ' was merely an noun phrase with an identifying relative clause, while ' The more slowly the moisture evaporates ' was a main clause.
| Quote: |
<B> "In 1974, one company succeeded in producing an artificial diamond
of high quality, but its cost price was considerably higher than
that of a natural stone."
What's the meaning of " that of " here?
How to write a complete sentence here? |
' that ', a pronoun, refers to ' the cost price '. So ' that of a natural stone ' means ' the cost price of a natural stone '.
Another similar example for your reference (One of the definitions for ' sour ' in a dictionary):
sour(adj): having a taste like that of a lemon or fruit that is not ready to eat.
=>The 1st that(= the taste) is a pronoun, and the 2nd that is a relative pronoun leading an identifying relative clause referring to ' a taste'.
Hope that helps!
Good luck!
Last edited by rice07 on Tue Jun 17, 2008 1:20 am; edited 4 times in total |
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chubbyhana
Joined: 05 Jun 2008
Posts: 13
Location: Beijing
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| Posted: Mon Jun 16, 2008 5:53 am Post subject: " that " and " that of " ??? |
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rice07:
I appreciated your full explanation here.....
Thank you!!!! Chubbyhana |
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