Read the passage and answer the questions:
"The explanation of a work is always sought in the man or woman who produced it, as if it were always, in the end, through the voice of a single person that literature spoke: through the voice of a single person and the imprints of his or her passions. The image of literature that we seek to sustain is tyrannically centered on the author, his life, his history, and his intentions. But to give a text an Author is to impose a limit on that text, to furnish it with a final signified, to close the writing. Such a conception is born of the rationalist and capitalist ideologies that have placed the individual at the center of history, emphasizing his authority and coherence. Yet, in reality, writing is a destruction of every voice, of every point of origin. Writing begins at the moment the Author is set aside, and language speaks—not the Author.
To refuse the Author is not to refuse meaning, but to refuse the tyranny of a single, authoritative meaning. The text, instead, becomes a space of multiple interpretations, where meaning is neither fixed nor final. The unity of a text is not located in its origin but in its destination; it is the reader, not the Author, who gives meaning to a text. This radical displacement shifts the power from the creator to the interpreter, from the supposed intention of the writer to the infinite play of signifiers within the text itself.
"The image of literature that we seek to sustain is tyrannically centered on the author..."
What is the grammatical function of the clause "that we seek to sustain"?
Show answer & explanation
Correct answer: D
Explanation
Correct Answer
Relative clause modifying "image"
Explanation
To determine the grammatical function of the clause, break down its relationship with the rest of the sentence:
Identification: The clause "that we seek to sustain" begins with the relative pronoun "that".
Function: It directly describes and provides essential information about the noun phrase "The image of literature" (specifically the head noun, "image").
Syntax: Because it functions like an adjective to modify a noun, it is a relative clause (also known as an adjective clause).
Key Points
Relative Clause: A dependent clause that modifies a noun or pronoun using a relative pronoun (that, which, who, whom, whose).
Exam Shortcut: Whenever a clause starts with "that" or "which" and immediately follows a noun to describe it, its grammatical function is a relative/adjective clause modifying that specific noun.