l10nel
Member
- Joined
- Nov 23, 2011
- Member Type
- Interested in Language
- Native Language
- Chinese
- Home Country
- Taiwan
- Current Location
- United States
Hello again,
This is a related question to the "what is the antecedent" post of mine earlier, but allow me to treat it as a separate thread.
The sentence in question:
What is the name of the girl [relative pronoun] you want to know?
My view: The antecedent is 'the girl', therefore the relative pronoun can be: whom/who/that/[nothing]. 'The name' can't be the antecedent as the sentence would become nonsensical (or have a semantic/logical error).
An opposing view is that 'the name' CAN be the antecedent for a specific scenario, which I describe below.
Suppose A is a mother anxious to find out from B, a teacher, whether her daughter's name has been included in a list of students who have been admitted to a prestigious school
A: Could you check whether my girl is on the list?
B: What is the name of the girl that/which you want(ed) to know?
OR
What is the girl's name that/which you want(ed) to know?
A: Jane, Jane Doe.
The supporter of 'name' as antecedent claims that this is a valid scenario and that he/she actually heard someone utter a sentence like the teacher's question above in asking the mother what the name is.
My response: I believe someone actually would utter a sentence like that above in this type of scenario, using the verb 'know' and treating 'the name' as the antecedent and object of 'know'. However, the wording of the question is not correct for this scenario as far as standard English is concerned. The question is still understandable to the mother, but this doesn't make the wording correct. The appropriate wording should be, if one must use the word 'know':
What is the name of the girl that/which you want(ed) to know the result for? [1]
But using 'know' is unnatural. More natural questions for this scenario:
What is the name of the girl that/which you want(ed) me to check the list for?
Better yet:
What's the name of the girl you are looking for?
What's the girl's name you are looking for?
It's a common mistake to omit the final words in sentence [1], even by a (sloppy) native speaker.
My conclusion: As far as standard/correct English is concerned, the scenario above therefore should be ruled out in discussing the meaning and the antecedent of the original sentence: What is the name of the girl [relative pronoun] you want to know? This rules out 'the name' as antecedent, leaving 'the girl' as the only possibility.
I hope I've explained this clearly enough. What is your opinion on this? Do you believe the "name list" scenario above should be considered acceptable or be ruled out?
This is a related question to the "what is the antecedent" post of mine earlier, but allow me to treat it as a separate thread.
The sentence in question:
What is the name of the girl [relative pronoun] you want to know?
My view: The antecedent is 'the girl', therefore the relative pronoun can be: whom/who/that/[nothing]. 'The name' can't be the antecedent as the sentence would become nonsensical (or have a semantic/logical error).
An opposing view is that 'the name' CAN be the antecedent for a specific scenario, which I describe below.
Suppose A is a mother anxious to find out from B, a teacher, whether her daughter's name has been included in a list of students who have been admitted to a prestigious school
A: Could you check whether my girl is on the list?
B: What is the name of the girl that/which you want(ed) to know?
OR
What is the girl's name that/which you want(ed) to know?
A: Jane, Jane Doe.
The supporter of 'name' as antecedent claims that this is a valid scenario and that he/she actually heard someone utter a sentence like the teacher's question above in asking the mother what the name is.
My response: I believe someone actually would utter a sentence like that above in this type of scenario, using the verb 'know' and treating 'the name' as the antecedent and object of 'know'. However, the wording of the question is not correct for this scenario as far as standard English is concerned. The question is still understandable to the mother, but this doesn't make the wording correct. The appropriate wording should be, if one must use the word 'know':
What is the name of the girl that/which you want(ed) to know the result for? [1]
But using 'know' is unnatural. More natural questions for this scenario:
What is the name of the girl that/which you want(ed) me to check the list for?
Better yet:
What's the name of the girl you are looking for?
What's the girl's name you are looking for?
It's a common mistake to omit the final words in sentence [1], even by a (sloppy) native speaker.
My conclusion: As far as standard/correct English is concerned, the scenario above therefore should be ruled out in discussing the meaning and the antecedent of the original sentence: What is the name of the girl [relative pronoun] you want to know? This rules out 'the name' as antecedent, leaving 'the girl' as the only possibility.
I hope I've explained this clearly enough. What is your opinion on this? Do you believe the "name list" scenario above should be considered acceptable or be ruled out?