It was comforting to suppose that the stream of life would flow on through time in whatever course God had given it - without interference by one of the drops in that stream -man.

1、whatever course God （which）had given it這個which不在從句中作賓語，為何省略？

2、by用什么工具的意思還是被動的意思？

It was comforting to suppose that the stream of life would flow on through time in whatever course God had given it - without interference by one of the drops in that stream -man.

1 這個句子中并沒傳統(tǒng)語法中的定語從句。in whatever course God had given it是個介詞短語，介詞in后接whatever引導(dǎo)的名詞從句作賓語。在這個名詞從句中，God為主語，had given為雙賓語及物動詞，it為間接賓語，whatever couse為直接賓語。由于引導(dǎo)從句，關(guān)聯(lián)詞至于從句之首，whatever為限定詞，故其限定的名詞也同時前置。在傳統(tǒng)語法的剖析中，這里沒定語從句。God had given it是名詞從句的主謂賓結(jié)構(gòu)，直接賓語由于引導(dǎo)名詞性從句而前置了。在講解這個名詞從句時，大家可以說，whatever+名詞=any +名詞+that. 即這個介詞短語可以改寫為in any course that God had given it. 即這個名詞從句事實(shí)上等于一個名詞詞組后接限制性定語從句。注意是等于，而不是實(shí)質(zhì)是。

現(xiàn)代語法將這種名詞性從句稱為名詞性關(guān)系分句，whatever為融合型關(guān)系限定詞，等于限定詞any + 關(guān)系代詞that。即whatever本身隱含了關(guān)系代詞在內(nèi)，這就是為何從句不可以再加關(guān)系代詞。只有將whatever用any替換時，才能用關(guān)系代詞that引導(dǎo)定語從句（現(xiàn)代語法叫關(guān)系分句）。

2 by在這里表示施事者，interferance為被動意義。interferance by man：受人類的干擾。