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"A work on english grammar and composition"


+Explanation+.--The connecting pronoun _that_ [Footnote: When _whom_,
_which_, and _that_ would, if used, be object complements, they are often
omitted. Macaulay is the only writer we have found who seldom or never
omits them.] is omitted.
2. The smith takes his name from his smoothing the metals he works on.
3. Socrates was one of the greatest sages the world ever saw.
4. Whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth.
+Explanation+.--The adjective clause modifies the omitted antecedent of
_whom_. Supply _him_.
5. He did what was right.
He | did | x
====|======================
| `
`
what ` | was \ right
---------|-------------

+Explanation+.--The adjective clause modifies the omitted word _thing_, or
some word whose meaning is general or indefinite. [Footnote: Many
grammarians prefer to treat _what was right_ as a noun clause (see Lesson
71), the object of _did_. They would treat in the same way clauses
introduced by _whoever_, _whatever_, _whichever_.
"_What_ was originally an interrogative and introduced substantive clauses.
Its use as a compound relative is an extension of its use as an indirect
interrogative; it is confined to clauses which may be parsed as
substantives, and before which no antecedent is needed, or permitted to be
expressed.


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