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I'm reading a book and have come across this sentence
アニーが指さしているのは、一本のなわばしごだった。
I know this sentence translates to something like
Annie was pointing to a long rope ladder.
But what I truly don't understand is what does the だった at the end modify? Is it modifying アニーが指さしている (Annie pointing) like I believe?
Or is it really modifying 一本のなわばしご (rope ladder)? And the translated sentence is more like
Annie pointed to what was a long rope ladder
This is a rather simple example of a cleft sentence.
アニーは一本のなわばしごを指さしていた。
Annie was pointing to a long rope ladder.アニーが指さしているのは、一本のなわばしごだった。
It was a long rope ladder that Annie was pointing to.
Grammatically speaking, だった is modifying nothing.
Note: This の/it is referring to a tangible object, so in this case, it is possible to translate the sentence using the simple grammar of relative clause: "The thing (=の) Annie was pointing to was a long rope ladder." But cleft sentence is a grammaticalized concept that has a wider range of usages.
