... to demand with all his might that which he desires.

[Kuzey]

Hi all. in this given sentence below, the last part is very confusing to me.

"A child can teach an adult three things: to be happy for no reason, to always be busy with something and to know how to demand with all his might that which he desires."

the word "that" shows a relative clause but i couldnt explain the function of the word "which" coming after that.
is there a noun clause within a relative clause or am i totally wrong? or is there a mistake with the grammar.
please explain the function of "that" and "which" in a way that i could help my students understand it easily.
your help will be much appreciated.

 

[5jj]

You can think of 'that which' as 'the thing(s) that'.

 

[Barque]

with all his might that which he desires."

To put it another way it means "that [thing/set of things] which he desires". "That" is an adjective but the noun that it qualifies ("thing") has been elided, so the adjective acts as a noun.

Another example is "Appreciate the good that he does for you". Here, "good" means "good things" but "things" has been dropped. So the adjective "good" becomes a noun.

 

[5jj]

To put it another way it means "that [thing/set of things] which he desires". "That" is an adjective but the noun

I'd say it was a determiner.

Another example is "Appreciate the good that he does for you". Here, "good" means "good things"

I'd say it was a noun.

 

[Tarheel]

@Kuzey Do you understand the phrase in its entirety?

 

[emsr2d2]

Hi, all. In this given the sentence below, the last part is very confusing to me.

"A child can teach an adult three things: to be happy for no reason, to always be busy with something and to know how to demand with all his might that which he desires."

The word "that" shows a relative clause but I couldn't explain [to my students] the function of the word "which" coming after "that".
Is there a noun clause within a relative clause or am I totally wrong? or Is there a mistake with the grammar?
Please explain the function of "that" and "which" in a way that I will be able to use could to help my students understand it. easily.
Your help will be much appreciated.

Please note my corrections above. If you're trying to explain this to your students, I have to assume you're an English teacher. Your profile says "Teacher (Other)".
If you are teaching English, you must make sure that you use correct capitalisation in everything you write, including on this forum.

 

[Kuzey]

You can think of 'that which' as 'the thing(s) that'.

thanks for your time and your reply. it was really clear and helpful

To put it another way it means "that [thing/set of things] which he desires". "That" is an adjective but the noun that it qualifies ("thing") has been elided, so the adjective acts as a noun.

Another example is "Appreciate the good that he does for you". Here, "good" means "good things" but "things" has been dropped. So the adjective "good" becomes a noun.

thanks for your time and your reply. examples made it easier for me to understand

@Kuzey Do you understand the phrase in its entirety?

i hope i do

Please note my corrections above. If you're trying to explain this to your students, I have to assume you're an English teacher. Your profile says "Teacher (Other)".
If you are teaching English, you must make sure that you use correct capitalisation in everything you write, including on this forum.

Thanks for the corrections.

 

[emsr2d2]

Thanks for your time and your reply. It was They were really clear and helpful.

Thanks for your time and your reply. It was They were really clear and helpful.

I hope I do.

Please note my corrections above. It's important to start every sentence with a capital letter, end every sentence with an appropriate closing punctuation mark and to always capitalise the first person singular pronoun. An emoji is not a replacement for a punctuation mark. It's really important that you demonstrate that you understand and follow the rules of written English if you're going to be teaching them to others.