demonstrative pronoun vs relative pronoun

Hi, Jiho,

@jiho posted:

Hello

I wonder if the word "that" is used as a demonstrative pronoun or relative pronoun. I am very confused because of the commar used in front of "that". I learned that "that" is not used with undefined relative pronoun with "comma" before it. So would it be possible for me to understandt "that" is a demonstrative pronoun despite the usage of error of comma. I chose this sentence from LOCNESS learner corpus by native students.

"Boxing is a high risk, short term career the men who do it are aware of this, that is why they are paid so highly".

Thank you.

'That' in 'that is why' is a demonstrative pronoun. 'That' as a relative pronoun isn't preceded by a comma. Interestingly, 'which is why' is similar to 'that is why', but it functions as a relative pronoun.

@ahmed_btm posted:

'That' in 'that is why' is a demonstrative pronoun. 'That' as a relative pronoun isn't preceded by a comma. Interestingly, 'which is why' is similar to 'that is why', but it functions as a relative pronoun.

I agree with Ahmed on all counts. "That is why" should be preceded by a period, a semicolon, a colon, an em dash, or a linker, that is, something that sets it off as a separate sentence. Only "which is why" can be preceded by a comma as it introduces a sentential relative clause.

I would hyphenate the compound adjectives. I also find the "the men who do it are aware of it" part defective, so the sentence as a whole should be recast:

- Boxing is a high-risk, short-term career, and the men who practice it are aware of this. That is why they are paid so highly. (This is actually ambiguous — it sounds like they are paid highly because they are aware of the high risk and the short-livedness of the activity.)

Better: Boxing is a high-risk, short-term career. That is why the men who practice it are paid so highly.

Option with "which": Boxing is a high-risk, short-term career, which is why the men who practice it are paid so highly.