Source: p 182, WordNet: An Electronic Lexical Database,
by Christiane Fellbaum PhD Linguistics (Princeton)
Graphically, mathematical lattices can be depicted as line diagrams that represent a formal concept by a small circle. [See p 181 of the link for a picture.] For each formal g,
the smallest formal concept to whose extent g belongs is denoted by γg, ...
Please correct me if I err, but 'to the extent of which' can be called a 'relative phrase', based on p 186, A Student's Introduction to English Grammar (2005), by Huddleston & Pullum.
My tribulations with it inspired me to Google examples 'to whose extent' for practice.
I know that as a relative determiner, whose = of whom or [of] which.
The quote concerns only objects (and not persons); so whose = of which
. Then:
to whose
extent = to the
extent of which
.
Then how do you dissect and parse this relative phrase?
Answer
For each formal g, the smallest formal concept to whose extent g belongs
is denoted by γg
Much more often, I hear/read "X belongs to Y", but in this sentence, to appears before belongs. Also, whose is kind of functioning here as a "possessive that" for lack of a better term.
So this sentence can be rewritten like this:
For each formal g, the smallest formal concept that its extent g belongs to
is denoted by yg.
So:
Each "formal g" is associated with an "extent g" (implied).
Extents belong to one or more "formal concepts."
The smallest of these "formal concepts" is called yg.
No comments:
Post a Comment