That:

Описание: In this video, I review what I covered in That: #12a. I have attempted to show the difference between a Distinction Clause (Relative Clause), a Noun Complement, and an Appositive--when using "that" as the Distinction Indicator or Noun-Clause Indicator.

Regardless of which type of clause you are dealing with, a given sentence must be considered in CONTEXT--that is, it must be considered as being in harmonious association with the sentences or discourse AROUND it.

Ordinarily (and there ARE exceptions), we will find the following:
When a Distinction (Relative) Clause is in play, the sentence Subject is the "featured" component. That is, there will be something in the Distinction Clause AND something in the sentence's Predicate that will "point to" the Subject. The Distinction Clause will clearly make a "distinction" about the head noun.

When a Noun Complement is in play, the Complement's imbedded Clause will be the "featured" component. The Noun Complement--RESTRICTIVE, like the Distinction Clause--will, in a sense, "complete" the head noun.

When an Appositive is in play, the sentence's Predicate will be the "featured" component. This might sound counter intuitive to some, but, if you think it through, you will understand the principle. The Appositive--Non-Restrictive, in this case--will "re-name" or "give more data about" the head noun. With the head noun being re-stated or re-named, you might sense that the noun (or subject) might indeed be ALREADY familiar to the audience. All in all, the Appositive will be seen more clearly when held up against the Distinction Clause and the so-called Noun Complement (which, as I mentioned, is still a controversial structure).

In this short series of videos, I examine the word "that." My dictionary (Webster's Ninth New Collegiate Dictionary, 1991) contains almost 160,000 entries. My premise is that the word "that" is categorically one of the most significant words in the English language--if not THE most significant. Though I can't prove it, I believe the word "that" to be (1) one of the oldest words in the English language; and (2) one of the most frequently used words in the English language.