Re: Subordinate clauses

Aaron Grahn wrote:

> Is there a good way to introduce a subordinate clause without a
> particle? For instance in
>
> The dog with the man that I saw was green.
>
> the relative clause is introduced with "that". This is probably a bad
> example, because English doesn't really distinguish (except by word
> order) which one I saw, and which one was with the one that I saw, but
> assume I saw a dog, the dog was with a man, and the dog was green.

Given that the best place for a relative clause is next to the
noun/pronoun it
qualifies, my first interpretation of the above would be that you saw
the man.
However, people don't always do what's best :-)

The dog that I saw with the man was green

makes clear what I saw, but leaves the 'with the man'  ambiguous.

The dog that I saw was with the man was green.


David Barrow

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