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Une histoire troublante, intimement liée à celle de ceux qui les ont habités.

I would like an explanation of the “celle de ceux” part. Isn't celle the demonstrative pronoun in this case? And ceux-ci and ceux-là are too but here ceux is without the proper ending so does that mean that ceux qui is a relative pronoun?

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    To make the sense clear, an English translation (somewhat bad and to literal) of the sentence would be: a puzzling story, linked to that of those who inhabited them Commented Apr 16, 2015 at 5:30
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    To be noted also : in most contexts, people avoid to use so many pronouns to remain clear, because such sentences would often confuse interlocutors and would sometimes need repetition or clarification. A less sophisticated way to reformulate your initial sentence would be Une histoire troublante, intimement liée à celle de ses habitants. Commented Apr 16, 2015 at 12:54
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    @PapaPoule merci for breaking it down so beautifully but the sentence remains the same. I read it in a teen magazine. Is it possible its a cooler way of saying things? Sorry I am just as lost. Commented Apr 16, 2015 at 15:06
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    Celle refers to l'histoire de ceux qui ... It is a singular because it points to one story shared by all these people Commented Apr 16, 2015 at 19:18
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    I found an instance of the source material where the preceding sentence is "[...]les lieux ont une histoire." That last word is overly emphasized and as was shown this is quite convoluted; it also included a past participle with no plural word to match(had it been feminine someone could guess it was about "maisons", as here someone can guess "lieux".) Then it becomes about which of the past ppl of vivre or habiter matches maison/lieu the best but it's not your question. Thanks.
    – user3177
    Commented Apr 16, 2015 at 21:08

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They're both pronoms démonstratifs, celle refers to une histoire while ceux refers to (les gens / implied) qui les ont habités

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