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On the results of the survey depend the extent and the type of campaign, we shall wage.

In the above sentence, is we shall wage a reduced version of the relative clause which we shall wage?

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    Yes, it's a relative clause but it's not 'reduced' as you put it -- what makes you think it might be? It's just a 'bare' relative clause, the kind without a subordinator. Note that since it's an integrated (defining) relative no comma is required.
    – BillJ
    Commented Aug 18, 2020 at 15:10
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    @BillJ This sentence is from Edgar Thorpe's Objective English. I was confused because of the comma. I was thinking it might be a non-restrictive clause set aside by a comma. I guess the author just added the comma for the sake of making the question appear hard to the students. Commented Aug 18, 2020 at 15:57

2 Answers 2

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On the results of the survey depends the extent and the type of campaign [we shall wage].

Yes, it's a relative clause. Since it's an integrated (defining) one, no comma is required, as shown.

It's not a 'reduced' relative as you put it, but a 'bare' relative, the kind where the subordinator "that" is omitted.

A wh relative is also possible, as you mention.

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Yes, but I would say that it should be "... the type of campaign*[no comma]* we shall wage." and "we shall wage" is a shortened version of "... the type of campaign that we shall wage." as it seems to be a defining clause.

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    Upvoted. I'll add the observation that the sentence is very awkwardly phrased. While technically grammatical (so long as the comma is removed), it reminds me of the apocryphal sentence usually attributed to Churchill: "this is the sort of [language/writing/arrant pedantry] up with which I will not put". I can't imagine a situation where "The campaign we wage depends on the results of the survey" isn't an infinitely better way to convey the same meaning.
    – fred2
    Commented Aug 18, 2020 at 14:58
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    @fred2 This sentence is from Edgar Thorpe's Objective English. I guess the author just added the comma for the sake of making the question appear hard to the students. Commented Aug 18, 2020 at 16:02

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