which

which
 The belief that which may refer only to the preceding word and not to the whole of a preceding statement is without foundation except where there is a chance of ambiguity. The impossibility of enforcing the rule consistently is illustrated by an anecdote cited by Gowers. A class in Philadelphia had written to a local paper’s resident usage expert, asking him what was wrong with the sentence "He wrecked the car, which was due to his carelessness." Notice how the authority hoists himself with the last three words of his reply: "The fault lies in using which to refer to the statement ‘He wrecked the car.’ When which follows a noun, it refers to that noun as its antecedent. Therefore in the foregoing sentence it is stated that the car was due to his carelessness, which is nonsense." See also that, which.

Bryson’s dictionary for writers and editors. 2013.

Игры ⚽ Поможем сделать НИР
Synonyms:
/


Look at other dictionaries:

  • Which — Which, pron. [OE. which, whilk, AS. hwilc, hwylc, hwelc, from the root of hw[=a] who + l[=i]c body; hence properly, of what sort or kind; akin to OS. hwilik which, OFries. hwelik, D. welk, G. welch, OHG. wel[=i]h, hwel[=i]h, Icel. hv[=i]l[=i]kr,… …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • Which — which  Unix утилита, отображающая полный путь к указанным командам или сценариям. Содержание 1 Описание 2 Опции 3 Пример использования …   Википедия

  • Which — Voir « which » sur le Wiktionnaire …   Wikipédia en Français

  • Which — is an English relative pronoun and interrogative pronoun.Which may also refer to: *Which?, a UK charity and its magazine *which (Unix), a Unix command See also * English relative clauses, for discussion of when to use which and when to use that… …   Wikipedia

  • Which? — Infobox Magazine title = Which? image size = image caption = frequency = Monthly category = Consumer publisher = Which? firstdate = October 1957 country = flagcountry|United Kingdom language = English website = [http://www.which.co.uk… …   Wikipedia

  • which — /hwich, wich/, pron. 1. what one?: Which of these do you want? Which do you want? 2. whichever: Choose which appeals to you. 3. (used relatively in restrictive and nonrestrictive clauses to represent a specified antecedent): The book, which I… …   Universalium

  • which — I. adjective Etymology: Middle English, of what kind, which, from Old English hwilc; akin to Old High German wilīh of what kind, which, Old English hwā who, gelīk like more at who, like Date: before 12th century 1. being what one or ones out of a …   New Collegiate Dictionary

  • which's — pronoun a) Of which; alternative to inanimate sense of “whose” If the previous request (which’s response was generated by the jsp) set a cookie on the client mdash;[ …   Wiktionary

  • Which? — a magazine produced each month by the Consumers’ Association in Britain. It consists of reports comparing different makes of similar products and services, to help people to decide which one to buy. It is only available to members of the… …   Universalium

  • which — 1. pronoun /ʍɪʧ,wɪʧ,ʍɪʧ/ Who; whom; what (of those mentioned or implied) He walked by a door with a sign which read: PRIVATE OFFICE. 2. noun /ʍɪʧ,wɪʧ,ʍɪʧ/ An occurrence of the word which. The ofs and the whiches have thrown our prose into a… …   Wiktionary

  • which — See: GAME AT WHICH TWO CAN PLAY …   Dictionary of American idioms

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
… Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”