Could the word 'dominant' be used in this way?
"I will focus here on those practices dominant in the Warring States and Han periods."

This sentence comes from an essay which I am translating into Chinese. I can't understand why the word "dominant" is behind "practices", because it is an adj., it should be before the word "practices". Perhaps, it means "practices (which are/being) dominant"? But can we omit the be-verb?

Question

Could the word 'dominant' be used in this way?
"I will focus here on those practices dominant in the Warring States and Han periods."

This sentence comes from an essay which I am translating into Chinese. I can't understand why the word "dominant" is behind "practices", because it is an adj., it should be before the word "practices". Perhaps, it means "practices (which are/being) dominant"? But can we omit the be-verb?

Answer

1. You are right. The full form of this phrase is '..practices which were dominant..' We are omitting the relative pronoun and the verb 'to be'. This makes for a neater, more concise phrase, and is a construction very common in formal writing.

2. Take another look at the sentence you've just read. Can you see that I've used the same construction that we are talking about? I could have written  "and is a construction which is very common in formal writing", but I've made the sentence neater by omitting the words 'which is'.

Answers · 2

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