“Jumping” Relative Pronouns in Action 「跳級」的關係代名詞

 


最近一位學生問我一句在報紙上看到的句子:


In March, we began collaborating on a project that we hope will give voice to some of these people.


他覺得很奇怪,為何在同一子句中似乎出現了兩個相連的限定動詞 –「hope」和「will give」。


不是說一個子句只有一個主語和限定動詞嗎?而「will give」的主語又在哪裡?


其實,這是一個包含嵌入式子句(embedded clause)的關係子句,而它的關係代名詞剛好又是該嵌入式子句中的主語。


當關係代名詞如常地放在個關係子句的開頭,它原本的位置便「懸空」了。因此我們才會覺得「we hope」看起來像是連接了另一個限定動詞「will give」一樣。


現在我們來逐步分折一下句子吧。


此句中有一個修飾名詞組「a project」的關係子句:


…a project [ that we hope will give voice to some of these people.

我們希望能為其中一些人發聲的   一個項目


還記得關係子句其實是用以修飾名詞的形容詞嗎?


這裡的「that we hope will give voice to some of these people」就是「a project」的形容詞,意思是「我們希望能為其中一些人發聲的」。


在這個關係子句中,關係代名詞「that」代表了被修飾的名詞「a project」。


但這個例子中的關係子句的結構特別複雜,原因是它自己內部亦有一個嵌入子句。


我們可嘗試將關係代名詞「that」改回「project」,再把整個關係子句寫成普通句子:


We hope THIS PROJECT (=THAT)  will give voice to some of these people. 


重寫後,我們可以看到代表被修飾的名詞「a project」的關係代名詞「that」,其實是嵌入子句中的主語。


外層還有一個以「we」作為主語和以「hope」作為限定動詞的子句:


[ We hope… ] 


然後連接一個嵌入式子句去完成「hope」:


[ We hope [ this project will give voice to some of these people. ] ] *


我們看到,名詞「project」是嵌入子句中的主語,也就是限定動詞「will give」的主語。


由於一整個關係子句都是用於修飾名詞組「project」,這主語便能夠被這裡的關係代名詞「that」替代:


[ We hope [ THAT (=the project) will give voice to some of these people. ]


大家應該知道,關係代名詞會移動至關係子句的開頭。例如:


This is the apple [ that I ate. ]


原本的詞序應該是:


I ate that (=the apple). 



替代「apple」的「that」是關係代名詞,因此被移前了:


This is the apple [ that I ate. ] 


同樣地,我們原本例子中的關係代名詞「that」也被移到開頭。因為它是嵌入式子句中的主語,它從自己的嵌入式子句「跳出」,來到這關係子句最外層的開頭,變成:


…a project [ that we hope [  ^ will give voice to some of these people. ]

我們希望能為其中一些人發聲的   一個項目


關係代名詞「that」從「will give」前面的位置,移動至「we hope」之前,也導致在原本嵌入式子句中「will give」前面的位置「懸空」了。


這就是為何此句看似有兩個限定動詞(「hope」和「will give」)相連在一起,但實際上它們是存在於不同的子句層次。


由於這例子中,關係代名詞是那「兩層」的關係子句中的嵌入子句的主語,當它向前「跳級」後,原本的位置便可能會「懸空」了。


你也能在自己日常的閱讀中,找到其他「跳級」的關係代名詞例子嗎?**


__________

備註:


*

這嵌入子句是我們的基礎課程中所謂的「that 嵌入子句」(“that”-embedded clause)。


一般會用到「that」這個標記字來標記這類型的嵌入式子句,例如:


We hope [ that this project will give voice to some of these people. ] 


這個「that」不過是個標記字,它並不屬於嵌入式子句的內部結構。


千萬不要把它與這個關係子句中的關係代名詞「that」混淆。後者代表的是「a project」,而且在子句的內部結構中扮演名詞角色。


「that」在英文文法中有多種不同的文法角色和功能,這裡也分別只是它的其中兩種。


無論如何,當一個關係子句涵蓋了多於一組的子句層,而當中的關係代名詞又需要「跳級」至最外層,標記字「that」便通常會被省略。(當那「跳級」的關係代名詞是內層嵌入子句中的主語,便一定要省略。)


例如:


…a project [ that we hope [ that* will give voice… ] ] ❌


…a project [ that we hope [ will give voice… ] ] ✅



**

如果問題字也剛好位於嵌入式子句之中,也會出現像這樣的「跳級」情況。例如:


You think [ THIS will happen. ] → WHAT do you think [ ^ will happen ]? 


下次我們再討論更多相關例子吧。


____________________

小練習:

將以下包含嵌入子句的句子,組成一個關係子句來修飾名詞組「the woman」。

He said she will win the competition. 他說她會贏得比賽


This is the woman ___________________________________________

這是他說會贏得比賽的那個女人 ________________________________

答案:

This is the woman who he said will win the competition. 


____________________


“Jumping” Relative Pronouns in Action

「跳級」的關係代名詞


Recently, a student sent in a question about this sentence he read in a newspaper:



In March, we began collaborating on a project that we hope will give voice to some of these people.


He was confused about why, seemingly, there are two finite verbs, “hope” (of “we hope”) and “will give,” next to each other in this sentence.


Isn’t there only one finite verb per clause along with one subject? Where is the subject of the finite verb “will give”? 


The reason is that we have a relative clause here that itself has an embedded clause, and the relative pronoun happens to be the subject inside the embedded clause.


When this relative pronoun moves out to the front of the whole relative clause, like all relative pronouns do, it leaves a “hole” in its original position, making it seem like “we hope” is directly followed by another finite verb “will give.”


Let’s step back and break it down step by step. 


In this sentence, there is a relative clause modifying the noun phrase “a project”: 


…a project [ that we hope will give voice to some of these people.

我們希望能為其中一些人發聲的   一個項目


Remember that relative clauses act as adjectives to the nouns they modify.


Here, “that we hope will give voice to some of these people” is an adjective for “a project” -- expressing the meaning of “我們希望能為其中一些人發聲的.


Within this relative clause, the relative pronoun “that” represents the noun that is being modified, that is, “a project.” 


Now, the slightly complicated thing about the structure of this particular relative clause is that it, itself, internally, consists of an outer clause and an embedded clause. 


We can look at this by rewriting this as a normal sentence by changing the relative pronoun “that” back to the “project”: 

We hope THIS PROJECT (=THAT)  will give voice to some of these people. 


We can see by rewriting it like this that the relative pronoun “that,” which represents the noun being modified, “a project,” is actually the subject of an embedded clause here.


There is an outer clause with “we” as the subject and “hope” as the finite verb: 


[ We hope… ] 


Then, there is an embedded clause completing “hope”: 


[ We hope [ this project will give voice to some of these people. ] ] *


We can see that the noun “project” is the subject within the embedded clause. It is the subject of the finite verb “will give.” 


Since the entire relative clause is used to modify the noun phrase “project,” this subject is replaced by a relative pronoun, which is “that” here:


[ We hope [ THAT (=the project) will give voice to some of these people. ]


As we know, relative pronouns move to the front of their relative clause. For example:


This is the apple [ that I ate. ]


The relative clause is originally: 


I ate that (=the apple). 


But because the “that,” representing “the apple,” is a relative pronoun in a relative clause, it moves to the front:


This is the apple [ that I ate. ] 


So, in the same way, the relative pronoun “that” in our original example also moves to the front. Since it is the subject inside an embedded clause, it “jumps” out of its embedded clause to the front of the outermost layer of this relative clause, giving us:


…a project [ that we hope [  ^ will give voice to some of these people. ]

我們希望能為其中一些人發聲的   一個項目

The relative pronoun “that” moves from its position in front of “will give” in the embedded clause to the front of “we hope.” 


This leaves a “hole” in the original position in front of “will give” in the embedded clause. 


This is why, in the sentence, it seems that two finite verbs, “hope” and “will give,” are next to each other. They are actually in different clause layers.


Since this is a relative clause, and the relative pronoun is the subject in the embedded clause, its position would be “empty” after it “jumps” out to the front.


See if you can find other examples of “jumping” relative pronouns in your reading.**


________________

Mini Exercise: 


Form a relative clause from this sentence with an embedded clause to modify the noun phrase “the woman” below. 


He said she will win the competition. 他說她會贏得比賽


This is the woman ___________________________________________

這是他說會贏得比賽的那個女人 ________________________________



Answer:


This is the woman who he said will win the competition. 


__________

Notes:


*

This embedded clause is what we call in our foundational course as a “that”-embedded clause (「that 嵌入子句」). 


There is normally a marker word “that” marking this type of embedded clause, like: 


We hope [ that this project will give voice to some of these people. ] 


This “that” is just a marker -- it is not a part of the embedded clause’s internal structure.


Don’t confuse it with the relative pronoun “that” in this relative clause, which is representing “a project” and plays a noun role inside the internal structure.


The word “that” has several different grammatical roles and functions in English grammar, and these are two of them (two separate ones). 


Anyway, when we have a relative clause that has more than one clause “layer” like this, and the relative pronoun needs to “jump” out to the outermost layer, the marker word “that” is mostly deleted. (It has to be deleted if the relative pronoun is the subject of an embedded clause, like in this example.) 


For example: 


…a project [ that we hope [ that* will give voice… ] ] ❌


…a project [ that we hope [ will give voice… ] ] ✅



**

Question words also “jump” over layers like this if they happen to be inside embedded clauses. For example: 


You think [ THIS will happen. ] → WHAT do you think [ ^ will happen ]? 


We can look at further examples next time.


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