Questions related to "that" clause and -ed modifier.

[Torenable]

Hi everyone,

Example first.
Even after a decade young men and women still experience some of the effect of a divorce that occurred when they were children.

My question is whether the meaning of "a divorce occurred when they were children" is the same as those underlines in the example? And which form is better for this sentence?

Dose it have equal meaning when a when clause refers to both a subordinate clause and a -ing/-ed modifier?

Thanks!

Richard

[Jamie (K)]

In that sentence, you must use "that occurred when they were children." This is an adjective clause, and the word "that" is the subject of "occurred". When the relative pronoun (in this case, "that") is the subject of the verb in an adjective, it cannot be deleted.

I think that in Chinese you don't use any relative pronoun at all; am I right?

[Torenable]

Thanks Jamie

Your reply leads me to be interesting in the differences between a clause and a -ing/-ed modifier when they act as an adjective. As we know, the usage, "the Ojibwa society defined rights and obligations involved in distribution and consumption.", is widely acceptable. Why "a divorce occurred when ..." could not be understood like the usage above? Is it the result of the when clause? In other words, a clause is better than a -ed modifier when the verb is modified by another clause, like "when ...", is it?

I can't remember when I use relative pronoun last time in my daily life in Chinese, maybe never ^ ^

To tell the truth, it is very difficult to translate a subordinate clause into Chinese smoothly and idiomatically. Most of time, I prefer to separate that sentence into two.

Richard

[Torenable]

And I have another question about when clause.

In the sentence, "I ate an ice-cream that was made by Ann when it was raining outside" (please ignore the illogical meaning = =), which action has done simultaneously with the rain at your first glance? is "made", right? or the sentence is ambiguous? Could the when clause be used to modify "eat"?

If I want to express that "eat" and "raining" are acting at the same time, is it the best solution to rewrite it into "when it was raining outside, I ate ..."?

Thanks!

Richard