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The beauty of fireflies, which are an indicator of environmental health, will overwhelm you.
It sounds fine when I say it, but not sure it is grammatically correct. Does 'which' indicate the beauty of fireflies or the fireflies? Can I say that what the 'which' indicates is depending on the verb after it? (singular: the beauty of fireflies, plural: fireflies)
If it's wrong, is there any revision that I can make with the fewest changes?
Thank you!
"Which" could refer to fireflies or to beauty. The conjugation of the verb will indicate to the reader or the listener what word the author or speaker intends "which" to be connected to.
If you say
The beauty of fireflies, which such and so famous author has written about so eloquently, overwhelmed me
then "which" would refer to beauty. On the other hand, your focus could be on the fireflies:
I was surprised by the beauty of fireflies, which hold special interest for some researchers.
I don't like your proposed sentence, because you have changed your focus suddenly, in the middle of the sentence. Do you want to give more information about the fireflies, or about their beauty?
