santy_010 Posted April 19, 2005 Share Posted April 19, 2005 Can "which" refer to plural antecedent? Should the reference be necessarily singular? Thanks Santy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
metodiev Posted April 19, 2005 Share Posted April 19, 2005 We had a discussion about the use of which a while ago, check it out http://www.www.urch.com/forums/showthread.php?t=22411 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
santy_010 Posted April 19, 2005 Author Share Posted April 19, 2005 Thanks for the post. However, it does not say whether which can refer to plural antecedents. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
metodiev Posted April 19, 2005 Share Posted April 19, 2005 Which can refer to noun phrases and since they can be plural or singular which should refer to both. E.g. improvements in the production process, which... - which in this case can refer to process or to increases in the production process depending on the context Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
englishurch Posted December 9, 2010 Share Posted December 9, 2010 1) Can "which" refer to a whole sentence? or just the noun/any part of a noun phrase? For example: Gover't stop subsidizing the farmers of the fruit industry, which ____________. Here in this example, can "which" refer to the whole sentence (Gover't stop subsidizing . . .)? Then, one could write . . . industry, which is horrible for all the citizen in the country. refer to main noun (the farmers); then, one could write . . . industry, which already receive not enough of funding to grow their plants. refer to preceded word(s) (industry/ fruit industry); then, one could write . . . industry, which includes apple and orange farms. 2) What about the word "that"? I guess "that" cannot refer to a whole sentence, but can it refer to any part of a noun phrase or only the preceded word(s) noun in the noun phrase? I really want to know and be clarify all the possible usage for "which" and "that". Thank you very much! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
800 Posted December 14, 2010 Share Posted December 14, 2010 In my opinion, "which" CAN refer to a whole clause (not a sentence; the clause may be main clause which may look like a sentence!) when it stats an apositive. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gmatmix780 Posted December 30, 2010 Share Posted December 30, 2010 In my opinion, "which" CAN refer to a whole clause (not a sentence; the clause may be main clause which may look like a sentence!) when it stats an apositive. Nope, Which can only refer to a NOUN. If you see any sentence in which is being used to refer to "whole clause", you should be 100% sure that the sentence is wrong. Example: They were watching the movie, which has won the national prize. [Movie, which] The THUMB ruel about which in GMAT: COMMA + WHICH is correct. If you check the official guides and GMATPREP, you will find that "which" has been used after COMMA. Thanks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aleks Posted October 26, 2015 Share Posted October 26, 2015 How about this sentence? Is it correct? "We just had a very rough day yesterday... parliamentary elections, which turned out quite a disaster." Can which in this sentence refer to the plural "parliamentary elections" ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Erin Posted November 13, 2015 Share Posted November 13, 2015 How about this sentence? Is it correct? "We just had a very rough day yesterday... parliamentary elections, which turned out quite a disaster." Can which in this sentence refer to the plural "parliamentary elections" ?Yes, which can refer to plural nouns. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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