Question

新概念第三册语法问题？

though my aunt pursued what was, in those days, an enlightened policy.
这里的what was 可以省略吗？
变成though my aunt pursued an enlightened policy.

Answer 1

您好，thought my aunt pursued what was, in those days, an enlightened policy. 这里的 what was 如果省略了，语义会有所变化。
句中的 in those days 是（时间状语），放到了 what was 和 an enlightened policy 起到强调作用。句子重组是：
though my aunt pursued what was an enlightened policy in those days
what 引导（宾语从句）作 pursued 的（宾语），而 what 在从句中充当（主语）。what was 和 in those days 隐约涵盖了（当时，那时）是（开明的政策），但（现在不是了）。假如去掉变成：
though my aunt pursued an enlightened policy 在语法上是没有问题的，但失去了这层隐约的含义，仅表示（奉行了开明的政策），而这个政策现在可能还是被认为是（开明）的，失去了一种（对比）的作用了。

Answer 2

Though my aunt pushed what was, in those days, an enlightened policy.
不可以改成： Though my aunt pushed an englitened policy.
因为what was 表示是什么， 改过的句子失去这个含义。