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Please look at these two sentences:

  1. It is serene, this piece of the Old World.
  2. Word has reached my ears of this Aragorn, son of Arathorn, and I tell you now, I will not bow to this Ranger from the North, last of a ragged house long bereft of lordship! (LOTR)

In sentence 1, the phrase "this piece of the Old World" is the deferred subject of the anticipatory "It".

In sentence 2, "last of a ragged house long bereft of lordship" modifies "this Ranger from the North".

In both cases, the phrases do not contain a non-finite verb or a preposition. What kind of construction is it? Sentence 1 is very close to a cleft sentence, but in the reference material there is not a single example where a phrase has been used separated from the main clause by a comma. They are all subordinate clauses.

Could someone clarify what kind of construction this is?

Edit: Reading the comments, I think it is safe to assume that appositives can take the place of subordinate clauses which act as a delayed subject. These are both appositives, then, serving different functions?

Surojit Ghosh
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  • In the former case, it's a delayed subject (hopefully that question has some info but there are probably further questions). In the latter case it's unclear whether it's an adjectival phrase, but if it's a noun phrase it's just a regular appositive, covered in any grammar book and lots of questions here. – Stuart F Jul 20 '23 at 08:49
  • Yes, it is a delayed subject, or deferred subject as some call it. But what is the name for this kind of a phrase? Is there a name to it? The second one seemed like an appositve to me, too, but I was uncertain. – Surojit Ghosh Jul 20 '23 at 08:50
  • If "delayed subject" or "appositive" doesn't apply, what more specific thing are you interested in? Is it the "X of Y" construction you are asking about? – Stuart F Jul 20 '23 at 08:51
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    There are too many things going on here , hence it will cover too many grammatical terms like Delayed Subject , Anticipatory It , Parenthetical Phrase , Explanatory Modifier , Introductory Modifier , Irregular Sentence , Etc. Out of all that , the closest is Appositive Noun Phrase [ maybe with a Delayed Subject ] which is used to rename [ & maybe amplify ] some Earlier noun ! – Prem Jul 20 '23 at 08:51
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    Appositives—noun phrases. – Xanne Jul 20 '23 at 08:54
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    Does this answer your first question? "We went swimming later in the afternoon, Jack and I." The second sentence uses a descriptive/expansive (and nonrestrictive, hence the comma) appositive. – Edwin Ashworth Jul 20 '23 at 13:27
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    @EdwinAshworth It does, thanks. – Surojit Ghosh Jul 21 '23 at 06:26

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