Sentence Correction

Though now eaten in large quantities around the world and harmless, the tomato is a member of the generally toxic nightshade family, including belladonna, and was once thought to be poisonous itself as a result.

Though now eaten in large quantities around the world and harmless, the tomato is a member of the generally toxic nightshade family, including belladonna, and was once thought to be poisonous itself as a result.

The tomato, though now eaten in large quantities around the world and harmless, is a member of the generally toxic nightshade family, which includes belladonna, and it was therefore once thought to be poisonous itself.

Once thought to be poisonous itself, the tomato is harmless and now eaten in large quantities around the world, and is a member of the generally toxic nightshade family, including belladonna.

Though now eaten in large quantities around the world and known to be harmless, the tomato was once considered poisonous because it is a member of the generally toxic nightshade family, which includes belladonna.

A member of the generally toxic nightshade family, including belladonna, the tomato was once considered poisonous even though it is harmless and now eaten in large quantities around the world.



When I saw this question I knew that it was a modifier question and ended up choosing E. The explanation for why E is incorrect is that "including belladonna" needed to have which added in front. Can someone explain when you need a "which"?

Thanks

kdn508 wrote:When I saw this question I knew that it was a modifier question and ended up choosing E. The explanation for why E is incorrect is that "including belladonna" needed to have which added in front. Can someone explain when you need a "which"?

Thanks

If you have a group of things, you don't need which.

The club members, including Anna and John, showed up for the meeting.

In this case Anna and John are included in the group of things, the club members.

However, the club is not the club members.

So if you just have the entity itself as the focus, or as what is being modified, you need which.

This does not really make sense.

The club, including Anna and John ...

This makes more sense.

The club, which includes among its members, Anna and John ...

Here are a couple more.

A few dogs, including Rover and Spot, were seen.

That dog pack, which includes Rover and Spot, has been around for years.

I guess in some cases, you could use either, depending on the meaning that you want to convey.

Half of the members of the set, including A and B, are odd numbers.

The group of things being discussed is Half of the members. So you could even shorten the sentence to the following.

Half of the members, including A and B, are odd numbers.

This one conveys a different meaning.

Half of the members of the set, which includes A and B, are odd numbers.

Now A and B are not necessarily in the half of the members being discussed. Now which includes A and B modifies the set.

So now you can see that in choice E, there is not a group of things that includes belladonna, as there is in this example.

Many things, including belladonna, are toxic.

Rather, to modify family and convey the correct meaning, you need which includes belladonna.

... the generally toxic nightshade family, which includes belladonna, ...

kdn508 wrote:Though now eaten in large quantities around the world harmless, the tomato is a member of the generally toxic nightshade family, including belladonna, was once thought to be poisonous itself as a result.

Though now eaten in large quantities around the world harmless, the tomato is a member of the generally toxic nightshade family, including belladonna, was once thought to be poisonous itself as a result.

The tomato, though now eaten in large quantities around the world harmless, is a member of the generally toxic nightshade family, which includes belladonna, it was therefore once thought to be poisonous itself.

Once thought to be poisonous itself, the tomato is harmless now eaten in large quantities around the world, is a member of the generally toxic nightshade family, including belladonna.

Though now eaten in large quantities around the world known to be harmless, the tomato was once considered poisonous because it is a member of the generally toxic nightshade family, which includes belladonna.

A member of the generally toxic nightshade family, including belladonna, the tomato was once considered poisonous even though it is harmless now eaten in large quantities around the world.



When I saw this question I knew that it was a modifier question ended up choosing E. The explanation why E is incorrect is that "including belladonna" needed to have which added in front. Can someone explain when you need a "which"?

Thanks

Hi Kdn508
What's the OA ?