Homework Help: English

Posted by rfvv on Sunday, December 5, 2010 at 5:17pm.

This is the number of years that someone has lived , or that something has existed.

(What is the part of speech of 'that'? Is 'that' a relative adverb or a relative pronoun? What is the antecedent of 'that'?)

English - Writeacher, Sunday, December 5, 2010 at 4:45pm
In that sentence, "that" is a conjunction introducing the dependent clause. There is no antecedent.

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(Thank you for your help. How about the following explanation?)

This is the number of years that someone has lived.
1. This is the number of years.
2. Someone has lived for the years.

We can combine #1 and #2.

3. This is the number of years for which someone has lived.

4. This is the number of years when/that someone has lived.

(Can we maek the two sentences one? Then "when or that" can be used instead of 'for which'. Then isn't 'that' a relative adverb?)

English - Writeacher, Sunday, December 5, 2010 at 5:38pm
http://www.answers.com/that
As you can see, "that" can be a pronoun, an adjective, an adverb, a conjunction.

In this case, you are using "that" as a subordinating conjunction:
http://grammar.ccc.commnet.edu/grammar/conjunctions.htm#subordinating_conjunctions

#3 is correct.

#4 is correct with "that" but awkward with "when."

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