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Hi could you please let me know if the "that modifer" modifies the closest noun (i.e exercises) or further away head noun (i.e. vocabulary), in the following passage.

Let's review some vocabulary from the last few reading exercises that I've published here on the blog.

KillingTime
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e-learner
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  • Please clarify your specific problem or provide additional details to highlight exactly what you need. As it's currently written, it's hard to tell exactly what you're asking. – Community May 03 '23 at 12:30
  • First, "that" does not relate to vocabulary alone, but to the whole some vocabulary from the last few reading exercises. In practical, nontechnical terms, "that" is more of a connector that joins separate pieces: [Let's review X] that [I've published.] – Yosef Baskin May 03 '23 at 12:38
  • many thanks and.please accept.my apology.for getting you confused with my question. My question, i put this way, is how could i identify the "that connector" refet to a close noun or far away noun in a sentence? Does it.depends on the so called "agreement" in a later context! Many thanks – e-learner May 03 '23 at 12:45
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    Pullum has stated that where common sense decrees what is being modified, and ridiculous effects aren't introduced, 'misplaced modifiers' are only eschewed by over-prescriptivists. // Where ambiguity persists (eg 'There is the house with the crooked chimney that Jack built'), some would say take the nearest sensible NP/DP (here, the crooked chimney) as default, while others will say rephrasing is necessary. – Edwin Ashworth May 03 '23 at 13:44

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Syntactically speaking, the sentence is ambiguous. Consider these two similar sentences:

  1. Let's drink some wine from French vineyards that I've stored in the cellar.
  2. Let's drink some wine from French vineyards that I visited last summer.

In (1), the antecedent of "that" is "wine," or rather the whole noun phrase "some wine from French vineyards." In (2), the antecedent of "that" is "vineyards," or rather the noun phrase "French vineyards."

But the two sentences are, of course, exactly identical up until the relative clause. In this case, to determine the antecedent of "that," you need to consider the meaning of the relative clause and its surrounding context. Note that you can store a wine and visit a vineyard, but not vice versa.

By default, you would typically assume that the relative clause would be attached to the closest noun phrase ("French vineyards"), but context can override this, as seen in (1).

(In your case, I think it's most likely "exercises"; presumably the author published the exercises, not the vocabulary directly. But again, it depends on context.)

alphabet
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  • @EdwinAshworth Yeah, I'm using the boring traditional treatment of relative clauses, to avoid unnecessary complexity (for OP, not for linguists). I'll add a note about the default interpretation. – alphabet May 03 '23 at 14:12
  • I've realised that the default usage of 'antecedent' is the broader 'a NP referred to' rather than 'that NP which is directly replaced by'. But the general topic is far from new on ELU. – Edwin Ashworth May 03 '23 at 14:30