I am trying to determine the grammatical function of that in the line:
- The hand that mock'd them and the heart that fed.
from Shelley's Ozymandius.
I want to work out if 'that' is being used as a pronoun or an adverb.
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John Lawler
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2How far have you gotten in working that out? – Robusto Jun 09 '14 at 00:46
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7The meaning of the lines themselves is still open to debate, even after two centuries; some poems are like that. The function of that, however, is quite clear: in both clauses, it is a relative pronoun, the subject of mock'd and of fed, introducing relative clauses modifying hand and heart, respectively. – John Lawler Jun 09 '14 at 00:51
2 Answers
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As John Lawler notes in the comments:
The function of that, however, is quite clear: in both clauses, it is a relative pronoun, the subject of mock'd and of fed, introducing relative clauses modifying hand and heart, respectively.
MrHen
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It's actually neither. It's an adjective, modifying the nouns of the sentence for greater specificity. Which hand? That hand. Which heart? That heart.
If it were a pronoun, it would be "the heart, that is what fed them". If it were an adverb, it'd be "the hand mock'd them that much."
moron4hire
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1You really need to adjust your understanding with regard to the parts of speech. You could start with the Wikipedia article on pronouns, where 'that' is said to be used as a relative pronoun (the hand that mocked them) as well as a demonstrative pronoun (That is mine) sometimes used anaphorically (The heart: that is what fed them). Next, check on determiners (as opposed to adjectives). You really don't want me to go into 'adverbs'. – Edwin Ashworth Jun 09 '14 at 06:57
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1Firm. And when someone puts up so magisterial an answer which could mislead people so badly, I'd feel I was erring if I didn't counter it so firmly. – Edwin Ashworth Jun 09 '14 at 18:19