1

When I see some complicated examples including this structure , I have difficulty to understand them.

How can use which and who after the prepositions?

Could you give me some examples in order to figure out the essence of the structure?

Damkerng T.
  • 27,174
  • 10
  • 70
  • 161
Hakan
  • 1,293
  • 9
  • 25
  • 41
  • Welcome to ELL! I think your question is a little too broad. It might be better to narrow down the scope of your question. For example, do you have a problem to choose between which and who in a specific sentence? after which specific preposition? – Damkerng T. Jan 21 '14 at 14:01
  • Hello @DamkerngT. , If I narrow down the scope, the most important part for me is to choose a proper preposition before using which clause. e.g. of which, on which or in which. – Hakan Jan 21 '14 at 14:12
  • 1
    A general rule of thumb is use the same preposition you would use if you replaced which with that or a phrase. For example, She may be late, in which case we have to wait for her -> In case she may be late, we have to wait for her. You might also want to read about pied-piping: http://ell.stackexchange.com/a/14664/3281. – Damkerng T. Jan 21 '14 at 14:27
  • It would be a very good idea if you put that "most important part" into the body of your question. That will allow answerers to address your problem more concretely. You may edit your question by clicking the 'edit' link beneath it. – StoneyB on hiatus Jan 21 '14 at 14:49
  • @DamkerngT. That's it -- post it! – StoneyB on hiatus Jan 21 '14 at 14:49

1 Answers1

2

To choose a proper preposition before using which clause. e.g. of which, on which or in which, we must realize that it is not the which itself that decides which preposition we should use.

A general rule of thumb is to use the same preposition you would use if you replaced which with that, or with a phrase. For example,

She may be late, in which case we have to wait for her.
= In case she may be late, we have to wait for her.

That's the same price at which the company went public in 2007.
= The company went public in 2007 at that same price.

I would like to recommend reading another answer about 'pied-piping', the technical term for a Wh- relative pronoun’s dragging along the preposition.

Community
  • 1
Damkerng T.
  • 27,174
  • 10
  • 70
  • 161