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Questions & Answers about In iedere rubriek staat een voorbeeld dat dient ter verduidelijking.
What is the meaning of rubriek in this sentence?
Rubriek means “section,” “category,” or “heading,” as in a part of a magazine, newspaper, website, form, etc. Here it refers to each separate section devoted to its own topic.
Why is the word order In iedere rubriek staat een voorbeeld and not In iedere rubriek een voorbeeld staat?
Dutch follows the V2 rule: the finite verb must occupy the second position. When you start with the adverbial phrase In iedere rubriek, the verb staat must come next, followed by the subject een voorbeeld.
Why is the relative pronoun dat used here instead of die?
Dat is the correct relative pronoun for neuter singular nouns (het-words). Voorbeeld is neuter (het voorbeeld), so we use dat. Die would be used for singular common-gender nouns (de-words) or for plurals.
What does dient ter verduidelijking mean, and what role does ter play?
Dient ter verduidelijking literally means “serves for clarification.”
- Dient is from dienen (“to serve,” “to be used for”).
- Ter is a contraction of te + der, a formal way to express “for the.”
It’s roughly equivalent to om te verduidelijken (“in order to clarify”) or voor verduidelijking (“for clarification”).
Why is een voorbeeld singular rather than plural?
The sentence states that each section contains one example. If there were multiple examples per section, you would say staan voorbeelden (plural). The singular staat een voorbeeld emphasizes exactly one illustrative example in each rubriek.
Could you use elk(e) instead of ieder in in iedere rubriek?
Yes. Both in iedere rubriek and in elke rubriek are correct and mean “in each section.”
- Use ieder(e) or elk(e) to express “each/every.”
- Alle rubrieken would mean “all the sections” collectively, which changes the nuance.
Why isn’t there a dummy pronoun er in this sentence?
In existential sentences (“there is/are”), Dutch often uses the dummy er. When you explicitly state the location at the start (here, In iedere rubriek), you can omit er. An alternative word order would be Er staat in iedere rubriek een voorbeeld, but leaving out er is perfectly normal and a bit more formal.
Can I replace ter verduidelijking with ter verduidelijking van?
Yes. If you want to specify what is being clarified, add van, for example: ter verduidelijking van de instructies (“for the clarification of the instructions”). Without van, ter verduidelijking stands alone as “for clarification.”