Labeling these noun clauses, etc. is of course, the traditional terminology, but those labels are potentially misleading. These are fused relatives (in the terminology of CGEL), and this means they are grammatically speaking noun _phrases_ (which contain clauses). I'm not going to defend that analysis here (see CGEL Chapter 12 for the details), but it appears to me a more adequate description than the traditional one.

Recognizing "what it was" as a NP makes the relationship to "we were doing" fairly straightforward. The latter is an ordinary relative clause and functions as a modifier to the fused relative/NP (compare "what it was [that] we were doing" with "the activity [that] we were doing").

On 11/30/2023 11:21 AM, Scott Woods wrote:
[log in to unmask]">
Thanks.

I'm really interested in the relationship between "what it was" and "what we were doing." These function together as a noun clause. But we could also say "if we knew what we were doing" or "if we knew what it was." There are two clauses within the noun clause. What is the structure? 

Scott

On Thursday, November 30, 2023 at 11:16:21 AM MST, Sergio Pizziconi <[log in to unmask]> wrote:


I agree with the DirObj reading of the subordinate.
Then, since the first part could be rewritten as "if we knew what we were doing was...", it could be extraposition with "it" as dummy subject. 
Finally, "would it? " has been variously labeled, but I use "question tag" as it reverses the polarity of the statement seeking for agreement. 
Sergio 


Il gio 30 nov 2023, 18:44 Gay Claiborne <[log in to unmask]> ha scritto:
Not an adverb clause; rather, it’s a noun clause functioning as direct object of the verb “knew.”

Sent from my iPhone

On Nov 30, 2023, at 11:54 AM, Scott Woods <[log in to unmask]> wrote:


Dear List,

What is going on in the bold section of the adverb clause below? Specifically, how are the two clauses related to each other? 

Also, how would you explain the "would it?" part of the sentence?

If we knew what it was we were doing, it would not be called research, would it?  (attributed to Albert Einstein)

Thanks,

Scott Woods

To join or leave this LISTSERV list, please visit the list's web interface at: http://listserv.muohio.edu/archives/ateg.html and select "Join or leave the list"

Visit ATEG's web site at http://ateg.org/

To join or leave this LISTSERV list, please visit the list's web interface at: http://listserv.muohio.edu/archives/ateg.html and select "Join or leave the list"

Visit ATEG's web site at http://ateg.org/

To join or leave this LISTSERV list, please visit the list's web interface at: http://listserv.muohio.edu/archives/ateg.html and select "Join or leave the list"

Visit ATEG's web site at http://ateg.org/

To join or leave this LISTSERV list, please visit the list's web interface at: http://listserv.muohio.edu/archives/ateg.html and select "Join or leave the list"

Visit ATEG's web site at http://ateg.org/


To join or leave this LISTSERV list, please visit the list's web interface at: http://listserv.muohio.edu/archives/ateg.html and select "Join or leave the list"

Visit ATEG's web site at http://ateg.org/