English Language & Usage Asked by TheeGrammarStallion on July 22, 2021
I understand that "that" can be either a relative pronoun or a subordinating conjunction, I just don’t understand when. I know that both of these create dependent clauses, and I am pretty sure that subordinating conjunctions create adverb clauses (is this the same as the conjunction functioning as an adverb?) and that relative pronouns create noun and adjective clauses (again, is this the same as saying that the relative pronoun functions as a noun and an adjective?). I have been recently been working on doing some sentence analysis (breaking down a sentence into its constituent word forms and functions), and I have been told to bracket off the dependent clause that the relative pronoun starts in order to find its function. However, this is much more difficult to do with "that", since I don’t know how to find out whether "that" is a relative pronoun or a conjunction, and I then don’t know how to decide the function for the conjunction or relative pronoun of "that".
To presume that relative pronouns function as nouns and adjectives is faulty logic. They merely refer back to the antecedent, and the clauses they head are what really function as adjective clauses. And since conjunctions are merely connecting words, that as conjunction never refers back to antecedent as does the relative pronoun that. Once you go by this logic I'm sure you could tell one from the other lickety-split.
Thus,
This is the book that Bill wrote. (Relative pronoun)
But
It's unlikely that he will succeed. (Conjunction)
Answered by user405662 on July 22, 2021
You could apply a little trick to identify the role of "that" in any given sentence: replace it with "which" to understand whether the word serves as a conjunction or a relative pronoun.
Example 1: They said that four million workers stayed at home to protest against the tax.
Replacement with "which" does not make much sense in this case, so "that" is not used here as a relative pronoun but as a conjunction. That clauses are usually used in combination with verb -- said that, in this example -- or a noun or adjective. You can read more about this here.
Example 2: He went to the school that my father went to.
Replacement with "which" fits, so in this example "that" is a relative pronoun. More on relative pronouns here.
Answered by Jitesh Gawali on July 22, 2021
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