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The Olympics is probably the most exciting event in sports calendar. It is one of the few opportunities we get to see some of the best athletes in the world.

Is "we get to see some of the best athletes in the world' an adjective clause?" If yes, we have to include 'opportunities' in the clause as :

It is one of the few opportunities we get (them )to see some of the best athletes in the world.

But as you know we have the following :

get to do something: 8[INTRANSITIVE/TRANSITIVE] [NEVER PASSIVE] to have the opportunity or be able to do something

get to do something: Did you get to visit the Louvre when you were in Paris? Her brothers went out a lot, but Lisa never got to go.

As you see, we shouldn't add any pronouns or nouns between 'get' and 'to do'. So please help me with such a confusing expression.

There is only one guess that 'we get to see some of the best athletes in the world' is not adjective clause. it is noun clause.

we have to use as following :

used as the same clause as : (I am sure that you are not guilty of crime).

It is one of the few opportunities (that) we get to see some of the best athletes in the world.

Thanks.

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  • I think you're completely misparsing get there. It might help to note that you could completely remove we get and remain grammatical without making any real difference to the meaning (though idiomatically we might prefer to remove the article in the few as well). Oct 22, 2016 at 17:56
  • If we don't consider 'get to see' as a whole the problem is very likely to solve. We might separate 'get' from ' to see' as: we get opportunities to see (using our eyes) some of the best athletes in the world. And it is not related to the phrasal verb (get to do something). The Olympics is probably the most exciting event in sports calendar. It is one of the few opportunities we get (them) to( in order to) see (using our eyes) some of the best athletes in the world. I think that will make sense. Oct 22, 2016 at 20:19
  • But the first example above doesn't feature the sense to get to X = to [finally] do X. It's We get few opportunities. The Olympics is one of those opportunities. Where we get could be replaced by we have, not when we are able to. Oct 23, 2016 at 13:51

1 Answer 1

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It is one of the few opportunities we get to see some of the best athletes in the world.

Yes, "we get to see ..." is an adjectival clause that modifies "opportunity", but it's missing the word where. The sentence is fine if written:

It is one of the few opportunities where we get to see some of the best athletes in the world.

When might also be fine, or in which.

See this page for more info (scroll down to "WH-Word Adjective Clauses")

Edit: An adjectival clause could be a separate sentence, but as a subordinate clause it modifies one of the words in the "root" sentence. If we break this compound sentence we would get:

"The Olympics is one of [a] few opportunities."

(What happens at these opportunities?)

"(At these opportunities) We get to see some of the best athletes in the world."

The way to construct these is (at least at first) to take two separate statements and link them with one of the wh- words, plus various others like "that":

He has a very interesting story. (In this story) He went to war and came back a changed man.

He has a very interesting story in which he went to war and came back a changed man.

.

It is a vast treasure. (In the treasure) There are mounds of gold and gems within (the treasure).

It is a vast treasure where there are mounds of gold and gems within.

In both of these examples the adjectival clause modifies the direct object (story and treasure). The following modifies the subject:

He is Tarzan, Lord of the Jungle. He (Tarzan) is able to swing from tree to tree.

He is Tarzan, Lord of the Jungle, who is able to swing from tree to tree.

also:

He, who is able to swing from tree to tree, is Tarzan, Lord of the Jungle.

Technically, I think this is no longer an adjectival clause but rather an adjectival phrase because you can't have a sentence that starts with "who". But as I mention, I'm not an expert on the grammar terms.

If we don't consider 'get to see' as a whole the problem is very likely to solve. We might separate 'get' from ' to see' as: we get opportunities to see (using our eyes) some of the best athletes in the world ...

I think you're making it more complicated than it needs to be. In your original sentence the subject is it, referring to The Olympics. The verb is is, and the direct object is opportunity. So this is the root sentence:

The Olympics is an opportunity.

Everything else is just modifying this root sentence. It's not just an opportunity, it's one of a few opportunities. And then we tack on an adjectival clause to tell the reader about these opportunities. A tricky bit is changing an opportunity to the opportunity. If we say the opportunity we are obligated to add more to the sentence to explain which opportunity we mean.

Northern Alaska is one of a few places. (In these places) We can see the Midnight Sun.

Northern Alaska is one of the few places where we can see the Midnight Sun.

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  • Thanks for your reply. I am not sure that I know how adjective clause works. In adjective clauses if the relative pronoun acts as a object of the sentence we should include it in the sentence as following : the house that Jack built (it) is really nice. The house is nice.Jack built it. "Have you seen those people whom we met (them,those people) on holiday?" I know we cannot use (house or those people) in the clause. Oct 22, 2016 at 17:57
  • It is one of the few opportunities we get to see (opportunities) some of the best athletes in the world. or It is one of the few opportunities we get (opportunities) to see some of the best athletes in the world. Where we can put opportunities like two above examples? (I know We don't normally place (house) or (opportunities) in our clause but I want to know where the object of my sentence placed ? Oct 22, 2016 at 17:57
  • I just want to know the right position of the 'opportunities' in relative clause. Oct 22, 2016 at 18:02
  • If we don't consider 'get to see' as a whole the problem is very likely to solve. We might separate 'get' from ' to see' as: we get opportunities to see (using our eyes) some of the best athletes in the world. And it is not related to the phrasal verb (get to do something). The Olympics is probably the most exciting event in sports calendar. It is one of the few opportunities we get (them) to( in order to) see (using our eyes) some of the best athletes in the world. I think that will make sense. Oct 22, 2016 at 20:18
  • I'm not an expert on the terminology of the grammar, but I'll try my best: An adjectival clause could be a separate sentence, but as a subordinate clause it modifies one of the words in the "root" sentence. If we break this compound sentence we would get: "The Olympics is one of [a] few opportunities." (What happens at these opportunities?) "We get to see some of the best athletes in the world (at these opportunities)."
    – Andrew
    Oct 23, 2016 at 2:11

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