Re: about antecedents

"UC" <uraniumcommitteechairman@xxxxxxxxx> wrote


dontbother wrote:
"Kay" <zyuuzika@xxxxxxxxx> wrote

Which is (are) antecedent(s) in the following sentence?

Instead, the research team is restricted by some dollar
resource constraint, some time frame, or some other parameter
that serves to limit the type of design chosen to solve the
research problem.

Someone told me that 'some dollar resource constraint', 'some
time frame', and 'some other parameter' are all antecedents.
But is there no chance that only 'some other parameter' is the
antecedent?

The immediate antecedent of "that" in this sentence is "(some
other) parameter". The other two are not antecedents of "that".
Why not? Because, while the relative clause introduced by "that"
defines the other parameter that limits the type of design that
can be chosen, it doesn't necessarily have to. In addition, the
restrictive aspect of "some dollar resource constraint" and "some
time frame" has already been mentioned and so the restrictive
relative clause is not needed to define the first two restrictive
parameters.

It would probably better for this sentence read "Instead, the
research team is restricted in the type of design it can choose
by funding limits, time contraints, or some other parameter".
This sentence needs no relative clause, demonstrating that the
first two contraints can't be the antecedants.

It seems odd to discuss this miserably written piece of crap for
any purpose.

No it doesn't. Most stuff that's written and published is miserably
written. If we discuss why it's miserably written, maybe some of the
writers out there who read what we have to say will learn something.
Maybe not.

By the way, I think your analysis and rewrite of the sentence was
excellent, and better than mine, but don't read anything more into
that statement.

--
Franke: EFL teacher & medical editor
Native speaker of American English; posting from Taiwan.
Unmunged email: /at/easypeasy.com
"Impatience is the mother of misery."
.

Relevant Pages

  • Re: about antecedents
    ... Someone told me that 'some dollar resource constraint', ... time frame', and 'some other parameter' are all antecedents. ... The other two are not antecedents of "that". ... by funding limits, time contraints, or some other parameter". ...
    (alt.usage.english)
  • Re: about antecedents
    ... constraint, some time frame, or some other parameter that serves ... Someone told me that 'some dollar resource constraint', ... The other two are not antecedents of "that". ... limits, time contraints, or some other parameter". ...
    (alt.usage.english)
  • Re: about antecedents
    ... constraint, some time frame, or some other parameter that serves ... to limit the type of design chosen to solve the research problem. ... The other two are not antecedents of "that". ... limits, time contraints, or some other parameter". ...
    (alt.usage.english)
  • Date Function
    ... I am running a query from a table that limits the output of data to a ... specific time frame. ... I am working on the last month minus 12 months. ...
    (microsoft.public.access.queries)