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I have seen an example referring to "on a par with something" at Cambridge Dictionary:

"At this rate, they'll have 600,000 visitors to the exhibition, which will put it on a par with the Van Gogh exhibition."

However, I'm not unclear about the overall meaning of the sentence. What confuses me here is how the word "which" is used. I don't understand which noun 'which' complements for here. Surely, it cannot provide information for "the exhibition" because of its improper meaning.

So, what does "which" complement for in this case?

Also, can "which" complement for the whole preceding clause? I'm very doubtful about this, because if I comprehend this meaning in this way, it seems to be quite proper.

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    "Which" is not a complement. Its function in your particular example is that of subject of the relative clause. Its antecedent is the preceding clause "they'll have 600,000 visitors to the exhibition", thus "which" is interpreted as 'the arrival of 600,000 visitors to the exhibition'.
    – BillJ
    Commented May 18, 2023 at 6:56
  • @BillJ.So this is a implicit subject, right? because in my knowledge, as usual, it refers to its close noun. Also, when should we interpret it as an implicit subject like this?
    – noname18
    Commented May 18, 2023 at 9:19
  • Which is understood as a pronoun = this. The comma that precedes it is conjunctive. = they'll have 600,000 visitors to the exhibition and this will put it..." The referent of "this" is "having 600k visitors."
    – Greybeard
    Commented May 18, 2023 at 9:42
  • 2
    @noname18 The relative pronoun "which" functions here as subject of the relative clause. We know it's the subject because it is located before the verb phrase. The relative clause is non-defining; such clauses can refer to almost anything in the main clause -- in this case to the clause "they'll have 600,000 visitors to the exhibition".
    – BillJ
    Commented May 18, 2023 at 10:16
  • Look up "sentential relative clause".
    – Tinfoil Hat
    Commented May 18, 2023 at 18:56

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[T]hey'll have 600,000 visitors to the exhibition, which will put it on a par with the Van Gogh exhibition.

It's probably better to see the antecedent of 'which' here as the entire main clause, [T]hey'll have 600,000 visitors to the exhibition (leaving out the introductory element). Thus a close paraphrase is

[T]hey'll have 600,000 visitors to the exhibition, which fact will put it on a par with the Van Gogh exhibition.

............

However, one could argue that

600,000 visitors will put the exhibition on a par with the Van Gogh exhibition.

is also a perfectly acceptable paraphrase, with 'An attendance/total of' or 'Attracting' etc deleted. So one could argue that '[A total of] 600,000 visitors' could be seen as a partly retrievable antecedent. But why over-analyse? The meaning, as you say, is clear. And while '600,000 visitors puts exhibition on a par with Van Gogh exhibition' makes a good headline, it's the total, not each individual ('600,000 visitors put ...') that's focused on here.

Certainly, '[the] exhibition' makes no sense at all as an antecedent, and the 'rules' about 'antecedent = nearest noun phrase or perhaps main clause' include an instruction to disallow such analyses.

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