In the early 1800s, the western part of ……. the United States was unknown to most Americans.

Question

In the early 1800s, the western part of ……. the United States was unknown to most Americans.
a) which now is
b) where now is
c) that is now
d) what is now (Answer Key)
e) which is now

Source: school exam

Hi,
This is a really difficult question for me because all of the options look fine to me. Would you please be kind enough to tell me why A, B, C and E can not work?

Thank you.

Tamguatlay · Accepted Answer

I don't think there is an explanation in this case for why the other choices are incorrect, The fact is 'what is now' fits the blank correctly.

English is not mathematics. It is not always logical. We often have to accept what the correct version is.

CalifJim · Answer

sb70012In the early 1800s, the western part of ……. the United States was unknown to most Americans.

If you parse the main part of the sentence, you should come up with something like

[something] was unknown.

That's the basic sentence. And now you have to find what "[something]" is. It's a noun phrase like

the western part of ____ the U.S.

Given the choices, the only relative word that might fit after a preposition (of) is which. that doesn't work, eliminating c). part of which might be possible if it fits, but it needs an antecedent that which can refer to, and there is nothing previously mentioned that can be the antecedent.

You could have the continent, the western part of which is now .... But you can't have the early 1800s, the western part of which is now ... because there is no such thing as the western part of a group of years. This eliminates a) and e).

b) with "where" has a similar problem because nothing mentioned earlier is a place, so that's out.

That leaves d), the western part of [what is now the U.S.], as the "[something]" we're looking for. That makes sense because "what" as the subject of a relative clause means "the thing which", so we have, in effect,

In the early 1800s, || { the western part of [the thing which is now the United States] } was unknown to most Americans ||.

"the thing", of course, is "the land" in this case. We know that from context.

CJ

Sb70012 · Answer

Thank you so much.

Is "what" considered a relative pronoun in my original question? Or it has another name?

CalifJim · Answer

sb70012Is "what" considered a relative pronoun in my original question?

It's called a fused relative.

CJ

In the early 1800s, the western part of ……. the United States was unknown to most Americans.

Top answer

Get the Weekly English Kit 📬

Related Questions