Anonymous Posted 15 years ago
Grammar
Grammatical Forks
Dear forum members,
I have a question about something I can't find any information about. I call them grammatical forks (after the chess term). They occur when two parts of a sentence dictate conflicting constructions. Here's a (crummy) example:
"We must treat Ghandi like who[m]ever we think he was."
"like" takes an object form (whomever); the phrase "who[]ever we think he was" takes the subject.
Has anyone thought about this kind of dilemma? Is there concensus? Basically, does the linear/local construction (giving the object form) or the phrasal/insertive nature of English grammar (giving subject form) win out?
I apologize for the poor example. It gets the grammar across event though it's not a very compelling sentence. I've come across real, sensical ones though---I just can't recall them.
Thanks so much.
K
I have a question about something I can't find any information about. I call them grammatical forks (after the chess term). They occur when two parts of a sentence dictate conflicting constructions. Here's a (crummy) example:
"We must treat Ghandi like who[m]ever we think he was."
"like" takes an object form (whomever); the phrase "who[]ever we think he was" takes the subject.
Has anyone thought about this kind of dilemma? Is there concensus? Basically, does the linear/local construction (giving the object form) or the phrasal/insertive nature of English grammar (giving subject form) win out?
I apologize for the poor example. It gets the grammar across event though it's not a very compelling sentence. I've come across real, sensical ones though---I just can't recall them.
Thanks so much.
K
Top answer
It is not a dilemma. Priority belongs to the dependent clause (it is the entire dependent clause that is the object of 'like'): We must treat Ghandi like whoever we think he was. ('We think' is an inserted comment clause.
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It is not a dilemma. Priority belongs to the dependent clause (it is the entire dependent clause that is the object of 'like'):
We must treat Ghandi like whoever we think he was.
('We think' is an inserted comment clause. The base clause is 'whoever he was'.)
We must treat Ghandi like whoever we think he was.
('We think' is an inserted comment clause. The base clause is 'whoever he was'.)
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