Hi saumiljacksparrow,

You post an excellent question about "which" that is very important for success on GMAT Sentence Correction problems.

Relative clauses (modifying clauses starting with relative pronouns such as that, which, who, whose, where, etc ) are one of the most misused structures in the English language. Therefore, they are tested often on GMAT Sentence Correction problems. Specifically it is the "which" clauses that cause problems.

Consider the following sentence: It rained yesterday, which forced me to cancel the event.

This sentence is a classic misuse of a relative clause. A which clause such as "which forced me to cancel the event" can only be used to modify a noun, as you asked in your post. In this sample sentence, there is no noun in the sentence for the clause to logically modify. It is being used improperly to modify the action of the entire sentence. To correct the sentence, the entire structure needs to be changed:

It rained yesterday, and as a result I was forced to cancel the event.

Another problem that is often seen with "which" clauses is that they are put too far from the noun that they are supposed to be modifying.

Consider the following example: The deposit that I put on the house, which is non-refundable, used up most of my savings.

Here the "which" clause is supposed to be modifying the deposit but it has been put beside house, suggesting that the house is non-refundable. To correct this simply put the modifier directly beside the noun as follows:

The non-refundable deposit that I put on the house used up most of my savings.

Here are a couple of correct examples using a "which" relative clause where the clause is directly beside a noun that it logically modifies:

The rain, which was at times torrential, forced me to cancel the event.
My truck, which I bought only two weeks ago, is already having engine problems.

In terms of using this knowledge on GMAT Sentence Correction problems I recommend the following strategy:

Any time you see a "which" in any of the answer choices go immediately to that section. Look before the which and see if there is a noun directly beside it that can be logically modified by the clause. If there is no noun or it is too far away such that it causes ambiguity then you can safely eliminate those answer choices. NOTE: a "which" clause does not always have to be immediately beside the noun it is modifying. However, if there is any ambiguity as to what is being modified then you can be sure it is wrong.

Obviously there are many other grammatical issues relating to relative clauses, but this simple knowledge will help improve your accuracy substantially on GMAT Sentence Correction. Hope that helps!

chris@veritasprep wrote:Hi saumiljacksparrow,

You post an excellent question about "which" that is very important for success on GMAT Sentence Correction problems.

Relative clauses (modifying clauses starting with relative pronouns such as that, which, who, whose, where, etc ) are one of the most misused structures in the English language. Therefore, they are tested often on GMAT Sentence Correction problems. Specifically it is the "which" clauses that cause problems.

Consider the following sentence: It rained yesterday, which forced me to cancel the event.

This sentence is a classic misuse of a relative clause. A which clause such as "which forced me to cancel the event" can only be used to modify a noun, as you asked in your post. In this sample sentence, there is no noun in the sentence for the clause to logically modify. It is being used improperly to modify the action of the entire sentence. To correct the sentence, the entire structure needs to be changed:

It rained yesterday, and as a result I was forced to cancel the event.

Another problem that is often seen with "which" clauses is that they are put too far from the noun that they are supposed to be modifying.

Consider the following example: The deposit that I put on the house, which is non-refundable, used up most of my savings.

Here the "which" clause is supposed to be modifying the deposit but it has been put beside house, suggesting that the house is non-refundable. To correct this simply put the modifier directly beside the noun as follows:

The non-refundable deposit that I put on the house used up most of my savings.

Here are a couple of correct examples using a "which" relative clause where the clause is directly beside a noun that it logically modifies:

The rain, which was at times torrential, forced me to cancel the event.
My truck, which I bought only two weeks ago, is already having engine problems.

In terms of using this knowledge on GMAT Sentence Correction problems I recommend the following strategy:

Any time you see a "which" in any of the answer choices go immediately to that section. Look before the which and see if there is a noun directly beside it that can be logically modified by the clause. If there is no noun or it is too far away such that it causes ambiguity then you can safely eliminate those answer choices. NOTE: a "which" clause does not always have to be immediately beside the noun it is modifying. However, if there is any ambiguity as to what is being modified then you can be sure it is wrong.

Obviously there are many other grammatical issues relating to relative clauses, but this simple knowledge will help improve your accuracy substantially on GMAT Sentence Correction. Hope that helps!

Chris,

This was really helpful, i guess the same strategy can be applied for the other four deadly pronouns - That,They,who,it

Cheers !

Rashmi

good recap

Rashmi - there are some important distinctions with that vs. which (that is used for defining relative clauses and those defining clauses can be a bit further away from what they are modifying) but generally speaking the usages with other relative pronouns/clauses are the same. In my experience, it is the "which" clauses that you need to understand the most for this test. There are many great mini lessons online for relative clauses - just google "relative clauses" and you will be surpised by the number of helpful resources. Hope that helps!

Hi Chris,

Can you please comment on usage of "which" with out a comma( , ) in front of it.

Thank you!!

hi kvcpk,

as you probably know there are two types of relative clauses: essential/defining (where the modifier is giving essential information and/or defining a particular thing/person) or non-essential/ not defining (where the modifier is giving extra information)

Essential clauses should never be set of by commas and "that" is generally used not "which"
Non-essential clauses should always be set off by commas and "which" is generally used not "that"

Examples:

Essential - The dog that bit me had rabies
Non- Essential - The GMAT, which costs $250, is offered worldwide.

99+% of the time there will be a comma preceding which. Are there exceptions? Yes - but I have NEVER seen this issue be important on a GMAT question. What is important is that you understand what I discussed previously in this discussion: "Which" clauses can only be used to modify nouns that they are beside or very close to.

In some cases which can be used in essential clauses or in cases like this where there would be no comma:

"That is a decision which you will have to live with for your entire life."

The only time I see commas matter with relative clauses is when they create meaning problems. For instance this sentence would be wrong because there should be no comma. As is, it illogically means that all children develop strong intellectual skills:

"Children, who are introduced to music early, develop strong intellectual skills". INCORRECT

Clearly this is an essential relative clause so there should be no commas!

Hope this helps!

chris@veritasprep wrote:hi kvcpk,

as you probably know there are two types of relative clauses: essential/defining (where the modifier is giving essential information and/or defining a particular thing/person) or non-essential/ not defining (where the modifier is giving extra information)

Essential clauses should never be set of by commas and "that" is generally used not "which"
Non-essential clauses should always be set off by commas and "which" is generally used not "that"

Examples:

Essential - The dog that bit me had rabies
Non- Essential - The GMAT, which costs $250, is offered worldwide.

99+% of the time there will be a comma preceding which. Are there exceptions? Yes - but I have NEVER seen this issue be important on a GMAT question. What is important is that you understand what I discussed previously in this discussion: "Which" clauses can only be used to modify nouns that they are beside or very close to.

In some cases which can be used in essential clauses or in cases like this where there would be no comma:

"That is a decision which you will have to live with for your entire life."

The only time I see commas matter with relative clauses is when they create meaning problems. For instance this sentence would be wrong because there should be no comma. As is, it illogically means that all children develop strong intellectual skills:

"Children, who are introduced to music early, develop strong intellectual skills". INCORRECT

Clearly this is an essential relative clause so there should be no commas!

Hope this helps!

Thanks Chris. It helps!!

I understand the essential/non-essential part of the sentence. But, wanted to know how "which" behaves without a comma. However, As it doesnt appear often on GMAT, I would stop worrying about it much.

Thanks again for your help!!

Thanks a lot Chris. This really cleared a lot of my confusion.