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John liao Posted 12 years ago
Grammar

Is which optional? New Concept English2.2

The big clock which used to strike the hours day and night was damaged many years ago and has been silent ever since.

I mean can I delete which here?
  

Top answer

john liao can I delete which here? No. It's the subject of its clause.

— CalifJim

  • john liao can I delete which here?
  • No.
  • It's the subject of its clause.
  • CJ
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6 Answers
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john liaocan I delete which here?
No. It's the subject of its clause.

CJ
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Why I cannot use "used" as past participle here, like
The big clock used to strike the hours day and night was ...
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john liaoWhy I cannot use "used" as past participle here, like The big clock used to strike the hours day and night was ...
That's not what the original sentence is saying. Here's the parsing:

The big clock
........ which used to strike the hours
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I can use made as a past participle to define the big clock, is the reason of misuse "use" that "use" cannot stand as passive tense here?

The big clock made by Tim was damaged many years ago and has been silent ever since.
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john liaoWhy I cannot use "used" as past participle here, likeThe big clock used to strike the hours day and night was ...
You can only use the past participle in passive voice clauses; then both the helping verb and the relative pronoun can be omitted. The past participle becomes a modifier, not an inflected verb:

The big clock was built in 1
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john liaoI can use made as a past participle to define the big clock, is the reason of misuse "use" that "use" cannot stand as passive tense here?The big clock made by Tim was damaged many years ago and has been silent ever since.
OK. Now I see what you mean. You can do that, but realize that you're changing the meaning of "used to" in that case.

th
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