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Originally Posted by Casiopea I don't disagree. Actually, I'm trying very hard to grasp it. I really want to see it but I can't seem to make it out. It's tickling my cognitive bone something awful.  Hep-me.
He is her brother who left the country. :( Possp He, her brother, left the country. :D Pronoun
He is the guy who left the country. :D Noun Her brother who left the country last year.... :( Possp
Her brother , who by the way left the country last year.... :D Possp
He is the brother that/who left the country.... :D Specific
He is the brother of hers that/who left the country.... :) Specific |
And I don't disagree that the construction is a bit clumsy. I just can't get it to be ungrammatical. The presence of a possessive adjective should not preclude the presence of a defining relative clause; at least I know of no such rule.
Perhaps the bothersome part is that the possessive pronoun seems to identify the noun and the defining clause seems to define it again.
For example:
It is
her brother who left the country.
With emphasis on "her", it sounds very natural.
This is her brother who left the country.
<separates this one of her brothers from another of her brothers>
This is her brother, who left the country.
<now there may be only one brother>
He is her brother who left the country.
<this does not seem as natural, but I can't really dispute the grammar>
I am as stuck on this one as you are.
