which – English Grammar Profiler

At C2 in the English Vocabulary Profile: work out = to understand something or to find the answer to something by thinking about it A search in NOW corpus for which ‘question words’ follow phrasal verbs: work out _*Q 1 WORK OUT HOW 12286 Just give us five minutes, Mr Poirot, and I‘m sure we‘ll be able to work out how you did it. listen 2 WORK OUT WHAT 11671 …

phrasal verb + clause ‘work out how you did it’ Read More »

Here are two student examples of complex noun phrases using relative clauses as complements: In addition, the people who lived in Korea 100 years ago didn’t have enough transportation. PELIC Arabic male level 5 writing class   Here are some of the things which I got. TLC speaking test female Kannada B2 A2 point 34 in CLAUSES is defined: a defining relative clause with ‘who‘ as the subject A2 point 20 in …

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Here are 3 similar A2 points in the English Grammar Profile. Point 25 in the category of NOUNS is defined: post-modify noun phrases by using a non-defining relative clause. Point 23 in the category of CLAUSES is defined: non-defining relative clause with ‘which’ as the subject Point 12 is the same but: defining relative clause …

WHICH (relative clause) Read More »

In the English Grammar Profile, B1 point 44 in the category of PRONOUNS/substitution is defined as: ‘one’ after ‘which’ in indirect questions to refer to one of two or more options. For example: If I were to show you these two urban scenes, and I were to ask you which one is more beautiful, which one would you say? TED *not all the examples are ‘indirect questions’ in the EGP examples. A search in iWeb for: which one …

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In the English Grammar Profile, C2 point 117 in the category of PRONOUNS/quantity is defined as: complex noun phrases using an inverted form ‘Many’ + ‘are’ + noun phrase, followed by a relative clause, as a focusing device. FOR EXAMPLE:   NBC News Covid is having a devastating impact on children — and the vaccine won’t …

Many are the + NOUN + RELATIVE CLAUSE Read More »

In the English Grammar Profile, B2 point 79 in the category of PRONOUNS is defined as: indefinite pronouns with a relative clause to form complex noun phrases, to give focus *Note that there does not seem to be any other grammar point in the EGP or EVP that relates to indefinite pronoun + relative pronoun which …

indefinite pronoun + relative clause (focus) Read More »

In the English Grammar Profile, B2 point 70 in the category of PRONOUNS & demonstratives is defined as: ‘those’ as a substitute, followed by a relative clause or ‘-ed’ or ‘-ing’. The examples in the EGP contain: those who|which|that on iWeb these are broken down as: 1 THOSE WHO 1715629 2 THOSE THAT 337742 3 …

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Wh-relatives can be preceded by a preposition unlike ‘that’ or ‘zero’ relatives.  For example: This is the thing which I am interested in.  (stranded preposition) This is the thing in which I am interested. (fronted preposition) This is the thing that I am interested in. (stranding) This is the thing I am interested in. (‘zero’ relative pronoun and stranding) In the English Grammar Profile, B2 point 12 in the category of PREPOSITIONs is defined as: preposition + relative pronoun as complement, to …

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In the English Grammar Profile, B2 point 78 in the category of PAST is defined as: past perfect continuous in relative clauses to give background information. A search in iWeb corpus for: who|that|which had been _vvg gives us the most common continuous verbs found in past perfect continuous relative clauses:   1 WHO HAD BEEN WORKING …

past perfect continuous (relative clause) Read More »

‘WH-‘ questions expect a reply that supplies information. The wh-word can be a pronoun: What made you think that? (listen to this question) adverb: Where did it go? (listen) or a determiner: Which part? (listen) A search for the most common questions in the iWeb corpus with: _ddq _v _p _v ? 1 WHAT DO YOU THINK? (‘what’ …

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Here’s an example of ‘some of’ modifying the relative pronoun ‘which’: I have many connections, some of which are less than reputable. Listen In the English Grammar Profile, C1 point 98 in the category of PRONOUNS / quantity is defined as: ‘some of’, ‘many of’ to modify relative pronouns in a relative clause. A search on iWeb for ngrams of some|many of  _**q …

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In the English Grammar Profile, B2 Point 4 in the category of FOCUS is defined as ‘The reason (that)’, ‘The place (which)’ + clause as subject + ‘be’ for focus. Expert examples: The reason you‘re alive today is because of those changes in our brains that took place in Africa. TED But the reason that a lot of his fans are in the stands is because of another video. listen Student in speaking …

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In the English Grammar Profile, B2 point 102 in the category of CLAUSES that are relative is defined as: defining relative clauses and non-defining relative clauses ending in a preposition, with ‘who/which/that’ as the complement of the preposition. *This point overlaps other categories and is already covered here. Here are the 4 most common prepositions …

relative clause preposition (stranding) Read More »

In the English Grammar Profile, B2 Point 100 in the category of CLAUSES is hard to find formally as it is more USE related as the relative clause: refers to a whole clause or sentence, often to express an opinion or evaluation or give a reason. This is also found in PEARSON’S: GSE 61 B2 …

evaluative relative clause ‘… which is good’ Read More »

There is no evidence of when students can use “which” or “whose”.