Dave's ESL Cafe's Student Discussion Forums

[hiromi525]

Please take a look at the following paragraph.

Keeping wood dry is not always that easy to do. The outside walls of a house are open to rain that blows against them. Soil carries water. It can wet any wood that touches it. Also, if there are plumbing leaks in your home, the inside wood can get wet.

I am not confident that the first and second it are indicating respectively.
I also don't understand what that is indicating.

[rice07]

The two its mean the same thing-- 'soil(carrying water)'. Therefore the original can be construed as:

Soil can wet any wood that touches it(soil). 'That touches it' is an adjective subordinate clause used in here to modify 'any wood'.

Hope this helps.

rice

[hiromi525]

Dear rice07

Thank you very much for your explanation for usage of that.
Thank to you, I was able to understand how to use that clause more than 80% but I sometimes get confused.

[rice07]