英文词组，对于theextenttowhich的理解，放几个例句麻烦帮忙分析下句子结构。1.Theydonotwantmonopoliststogougeconsumersandstifleinnovation,yettheyoftenstruggletodeterminetheextenttowhichsuchthingsareha

Question

英文词组，对于the extent to which的理解，放几个例句麻烦帮忙分析下句子结构。
1.They do not want monopolists to gouge consumers and stifle innovation, yet theyoften struggle to determine the extent to which such things are happening.
2.Through doing this, the teacher will be able to ascertain the extent to which the child understands what he is reading.
3. The extent to which it helped to promote Britain's broader strategic interests was sometimes questionable.
我知道大意是对。。。的程度，但是which在句子里做什么成分，读的时候要怎么理解它的意思？
非常感谢。

Answer 1

首先你要理解，没有一个词组是the extent to which。真正有的词组是to the extent，表示到...的程度。然后现在the extent是名词对吧，把他移到前面来作为先行词，which后面引导的是定语从句来修饰the extent.第二个句子比较简单我用这个来做例子。
Through doing this, the teacher will be able to ascertain the extent to which the child understands what he is reading.
通过做这件事，老师能确定孩子们有多理解他正在阅读的书。
这是比较liberal translation的方法，有多理解，实际上就是理解的程度有多少。词组是to the extent，后面跟着which修饰the extent。但是一般来说如果有介词和which一般放一起，所以to到后面去了，变成the extent，to which...