Ba é Percy a chol ceathrar, rud a dtearn sé a dhícheall in aiscí dearmad a dhéanamh air. Go dearfa, ní raibh ach an t-aon rud amháin le rá i leith ligean do Phercy fanacht beo ar chor ar bith, ní raibh a leithéid eile ar an domhan le gach cineál amaidí dá bhfuil ar fáil.
Ba é Percy a chol ceathrar - Percy was his cousin - This is a sentence of identity, with 'Percy' as the predicate, and 'a chol ceathrar' as subject. Within the context, in the club at the time of the action being narrated, Jim only had one cousin: Percy. But, outside the context, he could have many cousins, in which case, 'Ba é Percy a chol ceathrar' would be inaccurate, and would seem to imply that Percy was his only cousin in the world. So, often, for marking a person, 'Percy' in this case as a cousing, what is required is a category sentence, marking Percy as a member of the group 'cousins'. And this would be done with structures like these:
Is col ceathrar de mo chuid Percy.
Is col ceathrar domh Percy.
rud a dtearn(ndearna) sé a dhícheall dearmad a dhéanamh air - something he tried his best to forget
in aiscí - in vain
'rud' is used in relative clauses to refer back to a fact or circumstance:
D'ith sé mo dhinnéar orm, rud nach maith liom - referring not to the dinner but the fact of the eating of it
Ghoid sé éadaí de na línte, rud a chuir isteach ar na comharsana - referring to his thieving activities.
gach cineál amaidí dá bhfuil ann - every sort of foolishness going
dá bhfuil(de a bhfuil) - 'a' here is an inclusive relative pronoun - of all that is