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Silak12 Posted 8 years ago
Grammar

Comma vs which

Hi, everyone.

Could you tell me whether the comma is more correct here than writing the relative pronoun "which"?

A diplomatic note is written in third person. It can be related to any issue, going on between the two countries

A diplomatic note is written in third person. It can be related to any issue which is going on between the two countries.

Thanks!

  

Top answer

Ditch the comma: it is not a replacement for "which", and is quite wrong here. [1] It can be related to any issue which is going on between the two countries . [2] It can be related to any issue going on between the two countries.

— BillJ

  • Ditch the comma: it is not a replacement for "which", and is quite wrong here.
  • [1] It can be related to any issue which is going on between the two countries .
  • [2] It can be related to any issue going on between the two countries.
  • The difference lies in the underlined clauses which modify "issue".
  • In [1] it's a straightforward relative clause, and in [2] it's a gerund-participial clause.
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2 Answers
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Ditch the comma: it is not a replacement for "which", and is quite wrong here.

[1] It can be related to any issue which is going on between the two countries.

[2] It can be related to any issue going on between the two countries.

The difference lies in the underlined clauses which modify "issue".

In [1] it's a straightforward relative

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Here are a couple of small additional comments.

If you want a sentence, say eg A diplomatic note is written in third person.


It seems to me clumsy to speak of an issue going on. I'd say that an issue exists between the two countries.

Clive

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