Jane,
While I prefer "that" to "which" in your example, your rationale strikes
me as circular. "Which" needs a comma before it because which is used
only in non-restrictive (nonessential) relative clauses? This is an
artificial rule that has never been true of English. It is true that
"which" normally works better in non-restrictives than "that", but there
isn't a total ban on "that" with non-restrictives either. However,
"which" developed historically in Middle English (its earlier appearance
in OE fizzled because of the Normans) as a relative pronoun in
restrictive (essential) relative clauses and has been used that way ever
since. In fact, in the early 18th c. good stylists, like Addison and
Steele, insisted on "which" in all relative clauses and rejected "that"
altogether on the historically erroneous basis that it was an innovation
of the less educated. Historically the reverse was true: "which" was
an innovation of the more educated. The use or "which" in
non-restrictives developed later and is an addition to the use as a
restrictive, not a replacement of that use. (I will stay clear of our
earlier debate over the difference between "which" and "that".)
Herb
-----Original Message-----
From: Assembly for the Teaching of English Grammar
[mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Jane Saral
Sent: Wednesday, September 29, 2004 6:45 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: cpSPAM Re: Which as demonstrative pronoun?
But wouldn't you have to say "The car that has the highest mileage is
the least expensive one"? (not which, which needs a comma before it and
is reserved for nonessential information?)
I'm going to keep teaching that the indefinite antecedent (which, this,
that clauses referring to entire sentences or clauses) is not a good
construction (at the most correct level).
>>> [log in to unmask] 09/28/04 08:06PM >>>
"Which" functions as both interrogative pronoun -- "Which is the least
expensive car?" and as a relative pronoun: "The car which has the
highest mileage is the least expensive one." It also takes an
interrogative determiner function, as in "Which car is the least
expensive one?" (it is modifying 'car', not replacing it).
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Johanna Rubba Associate Professor, Linguistics
English Department, California Polytechnic State University
One Grand Avenue * San Luis Obispo, CA 93407
Tel. (805)-756-2184 * Fax: (805)-756-6374 * Dept. Phone. 756-2596
* E-mail: [log in to unmask] * Home page:
http://www.cla.calpoly.edu/~jrubba
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