26
votes
Why is this sentence from The Great Gatsby grammatical?
It's an example of a reduced relative clause
A reduced relative clause is a relative clause that is not marked by an explicit relative pronoun or complementizer such as who, which or that. An example ...
- 92.9k
24
votes
"...will divide the people (who/whom) most need to be brought together"
Because the subject of who most need is simply who, you have to use
With a two-party system, our nation will divide the people who most need to be brought together.
If you want a whom example, try ...
- 137k
11
votes
Why is this sentence from The Great Gatsby grammatical?
The sentence uses ellipsis to convey meaning in an economical way. Although formal grammar might require "that has come over" or "that came over", the meaning is unambiguous and ...
- 29k
9
votes
Relative pronouns "where" and "when": where can they be omitted?
Short answer and quick fix:
Look at the gap in the relative clause. If the gap can be filled in with the pronoun it, use the relative pronoun which. If the gap can be filled in using the locative ...
- 48.7k
9
votes
Is "I am who(m) God made me" grammatical?
It's grammatical. As per my answer at SAH's question, it's grammaticality is flushed out when one adds what has been (or can be taken to have been) elided, so:
I am who/m God made me to be.
For ...
9
votes
Accepted
Does the word "that" refer to "features" or "windows 9x"?
Both instances of "that" refer back to the specific features alluded to at the beginning of the sentence when it says "a number of features".
Microsoft built a number of features into Windows 9x that ...
- 2,680
9
votes
Is this natural? "There's somebody wants to see you."
This isn’t correct in written English and I believe it’d be considered a mistake here on the West Coast of the United States, although it shouldn’t be a big deal to misspeak one word in a sentence, ...
- 7,597
7
votes
Using the word "whether" instead of "which"
Just as where is the wh-word that goes in front of questions about location, whether is the wh-word that goes in front of yes/no questions when they're subordinated:
Is he going (or not)? ~ I wonder ...
- 109k
7
votes
Accepted
Do I need another 'which' in this sentence?
The second which is optional, but the first which should be a that because it's restricting "possible careers" [Grammarist]. You might want to consider rewriting your sentence as follows, sticking ...
- 18.1k
7
votes
Accepted
How can the relative pronoun 'which' have an adjectival phrase as its antecedent? Exactly what may act as antecedent for 'which'?
Relative clauses with which can have a wide variety of phrases as antecedent, despite the fact that which is often described as a relative pronoun:
Preposition phrase - They alleged the party was on ...
- 48.7k
7
votes
Accepted
How do I choose between ‘who’ or ‘whom’ when the subject pronoun is unclear?
First of all, each of the examples given in the body of your question should be "whom."
This is a holdover from when the English language had cases, which you sort of referenced by noting the ...
- 319
7
votes
Is this natural? "There's somebody wants to see you."
It doesn't look as though anyone has addressed your third question yet, so I'll give it a shot.
Omitting the relative pronoun "who" would be unusual in formal speech. (As you can see from ...
- 7,930
6
votes
Accepted
"Which" instead of "whose" for inanimate objects
John Lawler wrote in a comment:
The legal pied-piping that your friend points to is restricted to lawyers, and is not the same construction that appears in the ungrammatical sentence you point out: ...
6
votes
How do I choose between ‘who’ or ‘whom’ when the subject pronoun is unclear?
Relative pronouns like who, which, etc. are extracted from some position in the relative clause and moved to the front of the clause.
I.e,
the car [which she saw ___ in the street]
starts with a ...
- 109k
6
votes
Accepted
Use the object pronoun or the subject pronoun as the relative pronoun heading a restrictive clause that employs a transitive verb and a linking verb?
James is the man who we know ____ is who won it.
Here, "who" is not object of "know" but subject of the embedded "is" clause, marked by gap '___' .
"Who won it"...
- 13.5k
6
votes
Skipping a relative pronoun
You are in error. If you had only skipped the relative pronoun,
you would have produced the ungrammatical clause
*I slowly turn toward the elderly gentleman is standing at my side
In fact, in ...
- 109k
5
votes
What’s the rule for using “who” and “whom” correctly?
This is an attempt to also formulate an answer to my own recent question which was marked as a duplicate:
How do I choose between ‘who’ or ‘whom’ when the subject pronoun is murky?
I am still ...
- 7,392
5
votes
"Which" instead of "whose" for inanimate objects
I'm living in a country which language I have been learning for less
than 5 months.
The preceding sentence is certainly ungrammatical. Your proposed correction is right:
I'm living in a country ...
- 84.5k
5
votes
Relative pronouns "where" and "when": where can they be omitted?
You can omit the relative word only if it's possible to use "that" to introduce the relative clause
I think "I met Laura on the day I missed the train to Barcelona" should ...
- 84.5k
5
votes
Is "I am who(m) God made me" grammatical?
The reason is that traditionally, you can't use who in fused relative clauses; that is, you cannot use who when it figures in two clauses, being the subject (object) of one and the subject (object) of ...
- 90.3k
5
votes
Is this natural? "There's somebody wants to see you."
According to this reference "who" should not be omitted in this sentence.
(PristineWord) Look at this sentence.
Correct The waiter who served us yesterday was rude.
The subject of the ...
- 23.9k
5
votes
Prepositions in Relative Clauses: Placement Rules and Exceptions (during which)
Some answer to these questions is found in A Comprehensive Grammar of the English Language, 1985 edition. (user LPH's bold type in the text below; the full text extracted from CoGEL has been shortened ...
- 23.9k
5
votes
What’s going on with John 7:16, “My teaching is not my own, but his who sent me”?
It's comparable to
It's not my book, it's his.
But that assumes the listener knows who "his" refers to. In a face-to-face conversation you could point at him to make it clear.
But in the ...
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5
votes
What’s going on with John 7:16, “My teaching is not my own, but his who sent me”?
Theodore Roosevelt [Good Reads] used this string:
The joy of living is his who has the heart to demand it.
As did Ralph Waldo Emerson [One Journey]:
The world is his who can see through its ...
- 87.2k
4
votes
Accepted
Can an objective relative pronoun replace a subjective relative pronoun?
Your second example with whom is unremarkable; see this Language Log article: Whom loves ya? (The title is deliberately non-standard)
Geoffrey K. Pullum says
In cases where a relative or ...
- 84.5k
4
votes
The correct usage of "which"
I believe this is another of those zombie rules that is not based in actual usage. Certainly, which was used to refer to phrases and sentences by celebrated authors in the 19th century:
Jane Austen, ...
- 90.3k
4
votes
Where to draw the line separating non-essential and essential relative clauses
Okay, here goes. I will analyze each of your nine sentences.
1) This is perfectly grammatical and sensical. As you said, "which happens to be glowing red" is a relative clause.
2) Once again, this ...
4
votes
Do I need another 'which' in this sentence?
The second "which" is definitely optional, and leaving it out makes the sentence much crisper too.
Drawing an analogy to a mathematical equation in the form of x(a+b) = xa + xb, here's how the ...
- 785
4
votes
for which X vs. for the X of which
The key difference between the two phrases is the usage of "which."
"For the determination of which" refers to the method (determination) of calculating (determining) X, where X is ...
- 283
4
votes
Accepted
Is "where" the only relative pronoun that cannot be omitted from an adjective clause?
Non-pronoun Wh-relative words have idiosyncratic restrictions, and enter into many idiosyncratic constructions. Where is a good example; so is why.
Both where and why are less common than that in ...
- 109k
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