Anonymous Posted 14 years ago
Grammar
Is this natural as a usage of "that"?
From The Wind In The Willows By Kenneth Grahame
"The Rat sculled smartly across and made fast. Then he held up his forepaw as the Mole stepped gingerly down. 'Lean on that!' he said. 'Now then, step lively!' and the Mole to his surprise and rapture found himself actually seated in the stern of a real boat."
As for the expression 'Lean on that!', is that right to think that refers "his forepaw", here? I'm wondering since, in that case, the talker ends up with referring his own hand/forepaw, employing "that." Isn't it more natural to say, "Grab/Take my hand/forepaw!", and/or "Lean on me!" For, "that" sounds too inorganic and detached, which prevents me from being confident with the guess. Thank you.
"The Rat sculled smartly across and made fast. Then he held up his forepaw as the Mole stepped gingerly down. 'Lean on that!' he said. 'Now then, step lively!' and the Mole to his surprise and rapture found himself actually seated in the stern of a real boat."
As for the expression 'Lean on that!', is that right to think that refers "his forepaw", here? I'm wondering since, in that case, the talker ends up with referring his own hand/forepaw, employing "that." Isn't it more natural to say, "Grab/Take my hand/forepaw!", and/or "Lean on me!" For, "that" sounds too inorganic and detached, which prevents me from being confident with the guess. Thank you.
Top answer
Yes, it is.
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Could you or anyone elaborate? The problem is that, in my mother tongue, I will never call my own hand "that." Well, maybe, once my hand is cut off, which I wouldn't like to experience, though.
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It's a pronoun. You use it instead of using same word (forepaw) again adn again. Using same phrases often is considered a poor writing quality marker.
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Thanks for the reply.
Yeah, it's an administrative pronoun while something like "it" is a personal pronoun. And you know, the talker or the Rat refereed "that" only once...it is the writer who mentioned "his forepaw." So, it must be contextual to the (imaginary) locations of the Mole and the Rat rather than to the written text (The Rat cannot have read the text and referred the word in
Yeah, it's an administrative pronoun while something like "it" is a personal pronoun. And you know, the talker or the Rat refereed "that" only once...it is the writer who mentioned "his forepaw." So, it must be contextual to the (imaginary) locations of the Mole and the Rat rather than to the written text (The Rat cannot have read the text and referred the word in
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Oops, a demonstrative pronoun. 
In any case, we need to find out what the Rat mentioned by "that", imaging the scene. He
In any case, we need to find out what the Rat mentioned by "that", imaging the scene. He
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??? My previous question may be more of technology than of English but the question shouldn't be so tough for the native speakers. O.K. Just in case of a bad phrasing, I'll rephrase my question here.
1) What do you think the Rat refers to by the demonstrative pronoun "that"?
2) If it is his forepaw, then, is it common in English to refer to your own hand, using "that"? Furthermo
1) What do you think the Rat refers to by the demonstrative pronoun "that"?
2) If it is his forepaw, then, is it common in English to refer to your own hand, using "that"? Furthermo
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Is there something wrong in the way I phrase my questions? Any suggestion welcome.00
There's nothing wrong with the way you phrased your questions, but they've already been answered.
Nobody has anything to add.
Rover
Nobody has anything to add.
Rover
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Anonymous1) What do you think the Rat refers to by the demonstrative pronoun "that"?His forepaw.
Anonymousis it common in English to refer to your own hand, using "that"?No. But then it's not common in English to imagine how rats and moles would talk.
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