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Letters

by vinay1983 » Sat Sep 07, 2013 10:38 pm
Emily Dickinson's letters to Susan Huntington Dickinson were written over a period beginning a few years before Susan's marriage to Emily's brother and ending shortly before Emily's death in 1886,
outnumbering her letters to anyone else.

Correct option : Dickinson, which were written over a period beginning a few years before Susan's marriage to Emily's brother and ending shortly before Emily's death in 1886, outnumber

My query is how can the usage of "which " here be correct, since it should modify letters and not Dickinson!

Is this a rare property of which usage?
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by [email protected] » Sun Sep 08, 2013 12:51 am
Hi vinay1983,

The word "which" IS modifying "letters"; you have to read the whole phrase "letters to Susan Huntington Dickinson" to see it. Here, the noun is "letters", not "Dickinson"

This is not a common presentation of modification, but it is still correct.

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by sana.noor » Sun Sep 08, 2013 3:51 am
"which" is used to refer a noun and what is the noun here? use "slash and burn" procedure
Emily Dickinson's letters (we arnt talking about emily neither dickinson but about letters)
to Susan Huntington Dickinson....which were written

letters are plural...were is used after "which" so automatically we know that this "were" isnt for dickinson but for letters. "which were" is modifying letters. when ever in doubt, look for the verb usd after "which"

we are actually talking about letters, so main subject is letters not dickinson

i hope this helps
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by ani781 » Sun Sep 08, 2013 8:06 am
Hi Sana ,
Can u please tell me what is a "slash and burn" procedure ?

Thanks!
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by sana.noor » Sun Sep 08, 2013 6:32 pm
slash and burn procedure is to remove all prepositional phrases and modifying phrases
in the above example i remove "tosusan huntington dickson
Emily Dickinson's letters to Susan Huntington Dickinson, which were written [spoiler]over a period beginning a few years before Susan's marriage to Emily's brother and ending shortly before Emily's death in 1886,[/spoiler] outnumber her letters to anyone else. now read this simple sentence and u will understand that why using "which were" and "outnumber" is correct.
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by \'manpreet singh » Mon Sep 09, 2013 12:29 am
Emily Dickinson's letters to Susan Huntington Dickinson, which were written over a period beginning a few years before Susan's marriage to Emily's brother and ending shortly before Emily's death in 1886, outnumber

Remember we know that which modifies the noun before it.
Here "to Susan Dickinson" is a prepositional phrase and it cannot be modified by which, so the noun that "which" modifies is the " letters".So its Usage is fine.and also as Sana pointed out correctly you can check the verb after "which" in this case it is "were" .Thus we know that "which" is correctly modifying plural noun(letters) here.

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