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Lordandmaster -> RE: proper grammer/grammar/grammor with spanking an an incentive for the results (9/15/2006 4:40:40 PM)
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This problem doesn't arise in German, because in German you insert a helpful antecedent pronoun indicating the case of the noun represented in the relative clause--for example, "Ich hasse denjenigen, der mein Buch geklaut hat." You can see that the cases of "denjenigen" and "der" aren't the same. "Denjenigen" is an antecedent pronoun; it helps you avoid this whole problem.
In English, we don't do that; in fact, it's considered strictly ungrammatical in Modern English to insert antecedent pronouns. (You find it all the time in Middle English, however, and there are still plenty of examples in the King James Bible.) All you have is a relative pronoun, and the case of the pronoun is determined by its function in the relative clause, NOT by its function in the main clause. "She complains to him" isn't a relevant example because there's no relative clause. More to the point would be "She complains to the fellow WHO sits at the Complaints Desk" (and not "to the fellow WHOM sits at the Complaints Desk," which is what your reasoning would yield). "Who" has to be in the nominative in that sentence because it's the subject of "sits," even though it's the object of "to."
The spanking comes free of charge, by the way.
quote:
ORIGINAL: LadyEllen
LaM - we will have to disagree on that one then! I often reference German grammar and cases in such instances to get bearings, and if complains were a German verb, it would no doubt come with its own preposition and invoke accusative or dative case. This isnt to say English and German grammar are the same of course, but German having a proper grammar (!) it's helpful in such instances.
I think if we compared a sentence like "she complains to him", which has the acc/dat case of he (rather than "she complains to he"), with this one, its clear that the compound verb "complains to" must take an acc/dat object "whomever" rather than a nominative "whoever".
Anyway, I'm English and you're American, so how you can lecture me on the language I don't understand LOL! Mind you, at least if you were right I'd get my spanking.
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