I am a bit confused about the use of 'that' and would

Question

I am a bit confused about the use of 'that' and would appreciate some help.

From my understanding,THAT modifies the noun immediately preceding it... is this correct?
Or should THAT modify subject immediately preceding it?

Ex.
Aho, a Kiowa matriarch, held festivals in her home THAT featured the preparation of great quantities of food..... <<<< Use of THAT is confusing here as it is not clear whether THAT refers to 'home' or 'festivals'.

"The city allocated $150million to cover the increase in wages THAT it expected to approve....." <<<< this sentence is correct but I use my THAT rule and got confused whether THAT is modifying "wages" or "increase". If THAT needs to modify noun immediately preceding it, then THAT modifies 'wages' here, if THAT needs to modify subject, then it modifies 'the increase'.

Can the same rule be applied to the use of WHICH? What does WHICH modify, the subject or the noun preceding it? My understanding is that WHICH modifies the subject of the clause preceding it.

What do I write in my GMAT grammar rules?

PLEASE HELP

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bb · Answer

I don't think your question can easily be answered. It is a bit more complicated than that - it really depends if you have two independent clauses joined together with a "that" or if you have just a sentence with an additional noun that happens to use a "that". Also, more often than not, GMAT will test a VPR (Vague Pronoun Reference) error by throwing  that  or  it , making the explanations even more confusing. Here is a primer on the use of  that  from the best source I have found so far -  TOEFL Cliff's Book . Here is a quick summary of the rules:

1. Relative Clauses 
A relative clause is used to form one sentence from two separate sentences. The relative pronoun replaces one of two identical noun phrases and relates the clauses to each other. The relative pronouns are:  
- that
- which
- who
- whom
- whose

Remember that a sentence with relative clause can always be reduced to two sentences, so each clause must contain a verb

Restrictive and Nonrestrictive Relative Clauses (that) 
A relative clause can be either restrictive or nonrestrictive. A restrictive clause is one that cannot be omitted from a sentence if the sentence is to keep its original meaning. A nonrestrictive clause contains additional information which is not required to give the meaning of the sentence. A nonrestrictive clause is set off from the other clause by commas and restrictive clause is not.  Who, whom, and which  can be used in a restrictive or nonrestrictive clauses.  That  can be used only in restrictive clauses. Normally,  that  is the preferred word to use in a restrictive clause, although  which  is acceptable. TOEFL does not test the use of which and that in restrictive clauses.

Examples of restrictive and nonrestrictive clauses:

Restrictive:  Weeds that  float to the surface should be removed before they decay.
(We are not speaking of all weeds, only those that float to the surface. Thus the sentence is restrictive; if "that float to the surface" were omitted, the sentence would have a different meaning.)

Nonrestrictive: My car, which is very large, uses too much gasoline
(The fact that my car is very large is additional information and not important to the rest of the sentence. Notice that it is not impossible to use the pronoun  that  in place of which in this sentence)

Examples of relative clauses: 
 Hurricanes that  are born off the coast of Africa often prove to be the most deadly.
 Film that  has been exposed to X rays often produces poor photographs.

That - Other Uses  
* Optional: the word  that  has several uses besides its use in relative clauses. One such use is as a conjunction. Sometimes when  that  is used as a conjunction it is optional, and sometimes it is obligatory.  That  is usually  optional  after the following verbs:
- Say 
- Tell
- Think
- Believe

*  Obligatory:   That  is usually  obligatory  after the following verbs when introducing another clause:
- Mention
- Declare
- Report
- State

*  That Clauses : some clauses, generally introduced by noun phrases, also contain  that . These clauses are reversible.
E.g. It is well known  that  many residents of third world countries are dying.
OR
 That  many residents of third world countries are dying is well known.

Subjunctive 
The subjunctive in English is the simple form of the verb when used after certain verbs indicating that one person wants another person to do something. The word  that  must always appear in subjunctive sentences. If it is omited, most of the verbs are followed by the infinitive

We  urge that  you  leave  now.
We  urge  you  to leave  now.

The following verbs require  that  after them
Advise, ask, command, decree, demand, insist, move, order, prefer, propose, commend, request, require, stipulate, suggest, urge

The following structure applies:

Subject + Verb + that + subject + [verb in simple form]

Also, a similar rule applies after impresonal expressions with the same meaning as the above verbs. The adjectives that fit into this formula include the following:
Advised, important, mandatory, necessary, obligatory, proposed, recommended, required, suggested, urgent, impreative

The following structure applies:

It + be + adjective + that + subject + [verb in simple form]

E.g. It is necessary that he  find  the books. 
Note that it is not  finds

Source:  TOEFL Cliff's Book .

bb · Answer

I would say increase in wages that is also vague.

seofah · Answer

As bb said, THAT has various applications. The examples you brought use one of these applications. 
 
THAT clause here is modifying "home". If it were to modify "festivals", the sentence would have to be written "...held in her home festivals THAT...."
 
Again, THAT clause is clearly modifying "wages" here.

kukulkan · Answer

Thanks bb. No offence but I am aware of general uses of THAT... restrictive vs. non-restrictive etc. This explanation can easily be found in almost all Grammar resources. But, nowhere could I find the use of THAT as a modifier, modifying subject or noun preceding it.

Also, you said the use of THAT in "the increase in wages that..." is confusing, which I am doubtful. I showed this sentence to a few people in my office and everyone picked the correct answer... with THAT modifying "the increase". I would probably have picked it too, but only because I did "Kiwo..." question first and noted use of THAT referred there in my notes, I got confused and thought of posting my querry here to get some explanation.

boti- THAT actually modifies 'increase' in the sentence and not the wages.

Hope some grammar expert will throw some light on this. No offence bb and boti, I truly appreciate your input.

bb · Answer

You are asking a style question rather than grammar - there is no rule which object/noun is modified by THAT - there may be 1, 2, 3, etc nouns modified by THAT. What matters on the gmat is that the sentence is clear and has proper style.

The only difference between the two sentence that i can think is:
festivals and home - 2 objects (unclear which is modified as either can be)
increase in wages - 1 compound object and therefore modified by THAT (increase is not the subject of the sentence, however. City is the subject.).

bb · Answer

By the way, would be great if you could post some links to a few  GOOD  grammar resources.

kukulkan · Answer

bb, the following link is one of the best in my books. You can almost find anything that you are looking for- not just for GMAT purposes, but for general writing, etc. This is a terrific collection of online resources.

I have no doubt that you and probably most of the forum members already know about this source.

https://writing-program.uchicago.edu/res ... rammar.htm

once in, you can choose from American Heritage site, Darling's guide, common errors in english, and many more from the collection.

dwivedys · Answer

Am taking the liberty to dig out an old post  that  carries an important subject which has been discussed numerous times. Till date, I haven't found an authentic answer (from GMAT's point of view in particular).

Has anyone been able to come up with authentic GMAT-approved synopsis regarding the subject raised herein?

mikeCoolBoy · Answer

This is tricky. You're wrong when you say "that" modifies the noun immediately preceding it. Here's how it works.

Suppose the following structure

NOUN1 + PREPOSITION + NOUN2 + THAT

Here that can refer either to NOUN1 or to NOUN2, only using the context and the verb you'll know to which one that refers. The same reasoning can be applied to which. However, looking at examples in OFFICIAL PROBLEMS I've noticed the following pattern

if you have NOUN1 + PREPOSITION + NOUN2 + THAT  normally  that refers to NOUN1 
here are some examples extracted from OFFICIAL PROBLEMS (I'm writing this in capitals because it is the resource you should mainly use in SC)

Problem 116 OG 11
Out of America's fascination with all things antique has grown  a market   for bygone styles of furniture and fixtures   that is bringing

GMAT prep sentence 
dolphins are more closely related to some of the oldest known even-toed ungulates— a group   of hoofed mammals   that  today includes cows, camels, pigs, and hippos

Problem 34 verbal review second edition 
people tend to overestimate the amount of energy used by visible  equipment ,  such as lights ,  that  must be turned on and off

an exception to this pattern is the structure

one of X that ... here that refers to X

a higher interest rate is only one of the  factors that keep

look for more sentences among official resources.

On the other hand if you have a sentence with the following structure

NOUN1 + PREPOSITION + NOUN2, WHICH

normally  which refers to noun2. This is the common situation that appears in most problems. However is possible that which refers to noun 1 without the comma. Look at the following GMAT prep sentence

Changes in sea level result not only from  changes    in water temperature ,  which  affect water density, but also from the melting of glaciers

you don't have a problem here because changes is plural and the verb affect agrees with it.

To sum up, although in general that refers to the preceding noun, there are some exceptions especially when the preceding noun comes in a prepositional phrase.

let me know if this makes sense

VerbalBot · Answer

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I am a bit confused about the use of 'that' and would

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