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We will look at how this is used.

My question is this:

  1. Is the word how a subordinator in this sentence? If not, what is it?
  2. Are "We will look at" and "this is used" two independent clauses?
  3. Are these independent clauses connected by a word "how"?
Andrew Leach
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nanu1
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  • @EdwinAshworth But the word how is not a relative word (either adverb, adjective or pronoun) and does not appear in relative clauses. It is an interrogative adverb/adjective or a declarative subordinator. Very importantly subordinator is a term comparable to conjunction. John Lawler's point there is that being a relativewh- word does not make a word a conjunction. However, the word how does indeed appear as a subordinator in informal English. So this question is substantively different from that one. – Araucaria - Him Sep 30 '17 at 20:04
  • Your risking annoying users here, because this question is identical to a question you posted on ELL. I have answered it here, because I believe this is where the question should have been asked in the first place. – Araucaria - Him Sep 30 '17 at 20:08
  • @Araucaria Are you saying that John Lawler's 'Complementizers introduce complement clauses (including embedded wh-question complements)' is not the correct answer here? Nordquist concurs: << "wh-" questions always begin with a complementizer, including such words as who, whom, whose, what, which, why, when, where and how. >> – Edwin Ashworth Sep 30 '17 at 22:49
  • @EdwinAshworth Yes, that's right, that isn't reallly the answer to this question. JL'sanswer there states that the those words are adverbs, not conjunctions (read subordinators). The point here is that how - unlike why and the other adverbs discussed there - CAN be either an adverb or a conjunction/subordinator. So the question is why it is one or the other in this sentence. – Araucaria - Him Oct 01 '17 at 09:33
  • I'd reread this. JL says: 'Complementizers introduce complement clauses (including embedded wh-question complements), adverbs introduce adverbial clauses, etc.' He is putting this usage in the complementiser class, not the adverb class and not the conjunction class. – Edwin Ashworth Oct 01 '17 at 13:35
  • I'm voting to close this question as off-topic because it's still live at ELL and has been reduplicated here. – Araucaria - Him Oct 04 '17 at 16:55

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