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Look at this question:

The Think Tank is the only place in the world _____ visitors have free access to this type of research.

a. who b. that c. which d. Ǿ e. where f. when

The answer says that both d. and e. are correct. Do you agree with it? If d is correct, why are b and c incorrect?

Sahar
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2 Answers2

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The Think Tank is the only place in the world _____ visitors have free access to this type of research.

Relative clauses which occur after noun phrases headed by the word place behave in an exceptional way. Relative clauses have an antecedent, which is the phrase that is being modified by the relative clause, the thing that we are giving more information about. Some nouns, in particular the word place, can have relative clauses where the gap in the relative clause represents a locative phrase of the type that would normally be represented by a preposition phrase within the relative clause. This is not normally possible unless the relative clause uses the relative word where or that. However, when place - or a small number of similar words - is the antecedent noun, it is possible without any relative pronoun. Consider the following sentences which are grammatical when the antecedent is the word place, but not if it is another noun:

  • That's the place we ate last time
  • Dublin is the place I want to live.
  • That's the place we saw that incredible film.
  • This is the place they kept the prisoner.

Compare those with the following:

  • *That's the restaurant we ate last time. (ungrammatical)
  • *Dublin is the city I want to live. (ungrammatical)
  • *That's the theatre we saw that incredible film. (ungrammatical)
  • *This is the dungeon they kept the prisoner. (ungrammatical)

And then consider these, which do use the relative preposition where:

  • That's the restaurant where we ate last time.
  • Dublin is the city where I want to live.
  • That's the theatre where we saw that incredible film.
  • This is the dungeon where they kept the prisoner.

The Original Poster's example

The antecedent for the relative clause in the Original Poster's example is the noun phrase:

  • the only place in the world

Because this phrase is headed by the word place options (b), (d) and (e) are acceptable. If the antecedent didn't contain the word place (e) would not be so viable. For example, if we replace the place in the world with the word library we get the following - which is completely ungrammatical:

  • *The Think Tank is the only library visitors have free access to this type of research.
Araucaria - Him
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  • But why aren't b and c correct too? – Mitch Nov 30 '15 at 23:01
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    I rarely upvote answers to duplicates. I'll make an exception here. // Do you actually know of nouns other than 'place' that exhibit this behaviour, or are you (wisely) covering yourself? – Edwin Ashworth Nov 30 '15 at 23:11
  • @Mitch (b) isn't correct for the reasons covered, but (c) isn't because which can only represent an NP functioning as Subject or Object or Object of a preposition in the relative clause. It cannot represent an Adjunct [read Adverbial] (usually a prep phrase or adverb phrase) in the clause structure of the relative clause. – Araucaria - Him Nov 30 '15 at 23:13
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    I'd chip in that it's unwise to omit 'where' where the independent and/or relative clause is/are heavy, as reader-friendliness is impaired – but a rewrite is probably advisable at this stage in any case. – Edwin Ashworth Nov 30 '15 at 23:17
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    @EdwinAshworth There's a group of nouns that have been referred to as 'adverbial nouns'. They aren't all locative. They include 'time, way, place' - htere are more but I can't remember them all. You can read a little bit about them here. One common attribute is that they all take RCs without preceding relative wh- words. Am still covering! [I agree with your comment above. Even when they're short they can sound very informal - which is fine in the right circumstances, but not in others]. – Araucaria - Him Nov 30 '15 at 23:19
  • But in 'That's the way he went' (if I'm guessing the examples correctly)(most of the article being unavailable), 'he went' (presumably from 'in which he went') addresses/modifies the verb (as 'adverbial nouns' implies) rather than the noun that a relative clause does. – Edwin Ashworth Nov 30 '15 at 23:27
  • @EdwinAshworth Sorry here's the full paper, I think. I think that he went is part of a relative clause where an adverbial that way has been deleted: "that's the way [he went [that way]]" as it were. But I've been beGuinnessed, so maybe not! – Araucaria - Him Nov 30 '15 at 23:43
  • @EdwinAshworth ... and that RC is modifying way, not the VP, I believe. – Araucaria - Him Nov 30 '15 at 23:45
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    Sorry; I'm sleep-deprived; 'the way he went' is a complement, probably best analysed as subject (The way he went is thataway) and 'in which' rather than a bare relative pronoun is missing. // I seem to remember the Good Professor mentioning that 'place' (along with compounds) is unique in licensing where-deletion. But I can't find the post (if I'm 'remembering correctly'). – Edwin Ashworth Nov 30 '15 at 23:58
  • @Araucaria b and c may be incorrect for well-founded theoretical syntax inferences, but they nonetheless sound OK, though slightly infelicitous (also d doesn't sound great to me). But anyway, since the OP asks directly about b and c, it'd be nice for you to edit and state that as explicitly as you did for d and e. – Mitch Dec 01 '15 at 00:01
  • @Mitch Sorry, I was having a brain fart. (b) is of course completely correct (as I also say in my post although not in my summary). However, in my English at least, (c) is a definite no-no. Are you sure that which works for you? I'm just going to dive in and do an edit. – Araucaria - Him Dec 01 '15 at 00:12
  • re: that/which. I'm not a wordsmith; I remember much heavy weather about the right one to use but I just never figured it out. I've heard more recently that the distinction is somewhat made up not unlike split infinitives or sentence ending prepositions). So yes, 'which' works for me. Somewhat infelicitous (like the sentence went in a weird direction). – Mitch Dec 01 '15 at 01:19
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a: incorrect

b: incorrect with the current construction

c: incorrect with the current construction

d: (nothing) - correct grammatically

e: correct

f: incorrect

For (b) and (c) the clause would need to be recast to make it adjectival - " ... in the world that allows visitors to freely access this type of research.". My preference is for "that" rather than "which", but both work in the recast clause.

Cargill
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  • So is it possible to always leave out the relative pronoun “where”? What about this one: This is the town where I grew up. This is the town I grew up. – Sahar Nov 30 '15 at 22:58