I am trying to understand various instances in Hansard, the documentation of proceedings in the UK parliament, wherein the word which is used in an unusual (by my modern parlance, at least) position, one assumes in a formal manner. An example arises in the choice of words used to introduce a Commission in the House … Read more
I saw a post on another forum that sparked an interesting though-process for myself. Can which-clauses such as the one I am about to show example for be considered adverbial? The reason I ask is that I have always known these relative-pronoun led clauses to be adjectival clauses. My son chews with his mouth open, … Read more
I came across the following sentence: The head of the committee never failed to carry herself with the gravitas she felt was appropriate to her office. I feel that this construction came from “she felt the gravitas was appropriate to her office”, but here “the gravitas” seems to be the subject of a noun clause, … Read more
I came across the following weird restrictive relative clause in which ‘of which’ is used in place of ‘whose’. Actually, l am not quite sure whether it is correct or not. The plane (the right engine of which broke down) has been repaired in Cairo Airport. Answer I don’t know of any reason why that … Read more
Which one is correct? He is not one of those people who make/makes you angry Does “make” refer to “one”? Is there a possibility that “make” refers to “people”? Can it be something relative? Answer When you say one of those, what follows is a group. The only thing you need to consider is the … Read more
In the following excerpt from Romeo and Juliet, what do the words “which” and “most” refer to? Does the relative clause have a main verb at all? “I, measuring his affections by my own, which then most sought where most might not be found, being one too many by my weary self, pursued my humor … Read more
There are many answered questions that address the usage of “which” and “what” on this site—many of them marked as duplicates—and there is even a specific tag for this topic. But I could not find any answer for the following question: Should I use “which” or “what” or something else if I want to express … Read more
Can I use a relative adverb “where” when “case” or “instance” is an antecedent? “case” and “instance” is not a location, but I have seen “a case where” and “an instance where” a lot. Answer Where is not only used for location: [Merriam-Webster] adverb 1 b : at, in, or to what situation, position, direction, … Read more
I’m an English teacher who often has to grapple with explaining to students the complexity of clause structure in English, and after reading an article about various ‘longest sentences’ in fiction, I got to wondering if anyone has ever done any research into the cognitive limitations or constraints on the amount of nesting an average … Read more
Please share your offers with me to evaluate. Please share your offers to evaluate with me. Please share with me to evaluate your offers. Answer The first two are grammatically ok but could be interpreted slightly differently. Please share your offers with me to evaluate. This suggests that you share the offers you’ve had with … Read more
