the old saw that claims..

[kiranlegend]

The old saw that claims you cannot teach an old dog new tricks is a baseless superstition.

That, here, acts as a relative pronoun.. I'm confused. What is the subject of the dependant clause( which, to my understanding, starts with 'claims')? What parts of speech is saw?? (Can I frame the same sentence as ' What is the parts of speech of saw? If no, why?)

Thanks so much for your advanced response,

Kiran

[kiranlegend]

Could anyone please help me in clearing the above questions?:)

[bhaisahab]

The old saw that claims you cannot teach an old dog new tricks is a baseless superstition.

That, here, acts as a relative pronoun.. I'm confused. What is the subject of the dependant clause( which, to my understanding, starts with 'claims')? What parts of speech is saw?? (Can I frame the same sentence as ' What is the parts of speech of saw? If no, why?)

Thanks so much for your advanced response,

Kiran

'Saw' is a noun. "The old saw claims..." what does it claim? It claims that you cannot teach an old dog new tricks.
Does this help?

[Raymott]

Could anyone please help me in clearing the above questions?:)

A saw is a 'saying'. You'll only come across it in this sort of context.

[BobK]

A saw is a 'saying'. You'll only come across it in this sort of context.

In fact 'old saw' is a very strong collocation. You can't have a new saw. (This sort of 'saw' is almost a fossil - related to 'say' and 'saga' [which is clearly related to the German sagen].)

b

[kiranlegend]

Thanks Bob.

After reading your post, the following thought struck me which might not even be worth considering. However, I would like to go ahead expressing it.

As it's been happening, the language is continously changing, and So would the collocations. Presuming that that the change would have an impact on various usages of words, could we expect the induction of a new collocation 'new saw'?

Please excuse me if you find my doubt to be silly:)

Thanks,
Kiran