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Anonymous Posted 9 years ago
Grammar

By virtue of which

"The term 'charisma' will be applied to a certain quality of an individual personality by virtue of which he is considered extraordinary and treated as endowed with supernatural, superhuman, or at least specifically exceptional powers or qualities." ?Max Weber

"Time is that by virtue of which everything becomes nothingness in our hands and loses all real value." ?Arthur Schopenhauer


Is those correct? I seem to think that 'which' itself cannnot be an object of a preposition.

That which I love you is true. (O)

Which I love you is true (X)

  

Top answer

The sentences by Weber and Schopenhauer are correct. "By virtue of which" is idiomatic and has various usages. ", are both ungrammatical.

— Anonymous

  • The sentences by Weber and Schopenhauer are correct.
  • "By virtue of which" is idiomatic and has various usages.
  • ", are both ungrammatical.
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2 Answers
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The sentences by Weber and Schopenhauer are correct. "By virtue of which" is idiomatic and has various usages. In Weber's sentence it means something like "and this (quality) will enable us to say that." In Schopenhauer's sentence it means something like "thing (that is, 'that thing') which makes us think that."


The other two sentences, "That which I love you is true." and "Which

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Both the quoted sentences are correct. There is no problem with "which" being the object of a preposition, e.g. "the house in which I live", "the college from which he graduated", etc. etc.

Both your sentences are incorrect. In "That which I love you is true", the verb "love" has two objects ("which" and "you"), which is not possible. "That which I love is true" would be grammatical.

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