Silly question

[Steve]

---  "zanooda2" <zanooda2 at ...> wrote:
>
> Here is a sentence: "The graveyard is full of the names of ancient magical families, and this accounts, no doubt, for the stories of hauntings that have dogged the little church for many centuries".
> 
> My question may seem a little silly, but since there is an argument, I have to ask: what exactly "have dogged" that church, stories or hauntings :-)? Thank you!
>

bboyminn:

Well, I think, grammatically, it is 'stories' that have dogged 
the church. Specifically, 'stories of hauntings'. 

So, 'stories' have dogged the church, but 'stories of hauntings'
tells you what kind of stories are being referenced. 

Dogged is, by definition, a reference to -
"Stubbornly persevering; tenacious"

So in short, stories of haunting have persevered about the 
little church. The stories of ghosts have been persistent over
time. 

But what is behind those stories, and why would they make 
comment like this.

When Harry is introduced to Nick, or perhaps it was after 
Sirius's death when Harry sought out Nick; Nick said that
only WIZARDS can come back as ghosts.

So, a graveyard full of dead wizards, would lead to a graveyard
full of wizard ghosts, and that would lead to "stories of 
hauntings that (would) have dogged the little church for many centuries".

Restated - 

"The graveyard is full of the names of ancient magical families, and this accounts, no doubt, for the stories of GHOSTS that have PERSISTED AROUND the little church for many centuries".

So, again, and sorry for being redundant; 'Stories' is the subject, 'have dogged' or 'have persisted' is the verb, and 'of hauntings' describes the nature of the stories.

But the hauntings are there because the wizards are there. 

Steve/bluewizard