Quick grammar question (no.3)

Question

The Rose Bowl, _________ place on New Year's Day, is the oldest posteseason collegiate football game in the united states.(A) takes(B) which takes(C) it takes(D) tookThe correct answe is "(B) which takes". I'm studying TOEFL, and in the book I've seen "which" being used as a noun connecter serving also as a subject, an adjective connecter, and an adjective connecter serving also as a subject.An example of the first use could be: Which book to be read is up to you.An example of the second use could be: I read the book which you gave me.An example of the third use could be: I don't know which book to choose.None of these seems similar to the form used in the question I earlier mentioned. Could you tell me what form it is? And why you think it is so?

W4j3d · Accepted Answer

Sorry for talking too much, can you answer the question please?

I'm the asker of the question.

CalifJim · Answer

AnonymousNone of these seems similar to the form used in the question I earlier mentioned. Could you tell me what form it is? And why you think it is so?

which has several uses, and I think you're getting them confused.

With a relative construction,

as subject of the relative clause: The book [which was lying on the table] was heavy.
as object of a relative clause: The book [which I read] was very amusing.
and as other elements: The book [for which I paid $20] was lost.

As a determiner: I don't know [which book] to read first.

As a question pronoun: [Which] do you want? The red one, or the blue one?

As a question determiner: [Which book] do you like best?

The 'Rose Bowl' example uses the very first form mentioned above. It serves as the subject of a relative clause.

CJ

W4j3d · Answer

Why are the commas being used? Could they be ommited? I'm talking about the "Rose Bowl" example.

In my book it doesn't mention anything about the commas, yet this question is actually in the book.

W4j3d · Answer

For example, there is this example "The glass that is on the table contains milk", which I think is similar to the "Rose Bowl" example, and there is no commas used.

CalifJim · Answer

The Rose Bowl, which takes place on New Year's Day, is ...

w4j3dWhy are the commas being used? Could they be ~~ommited~~ omitted?

Commas are used when the relative clause does not restrict the meaning of the preceding noun phrase. The relative clause is then called "non-restrictive".

Once you say "The Rose Bowl", you have said enough for the reader to know what you mean. There is only one Rose Bowl. There is not one Rose Bowl on New Year's Day and another Rose Bowl on Valentine's Day and another Rose Bowl on Memorial Day, and so on. So the information that the Rose Bowl takes place on New Year's Day is just some added information about the Rose Bowl. It doesn't tell us which Rose Bowl, as if there were several. So it doesn't further restrict the meaning of "Rose Bowl". It's non-restrictive, or you might say parenthetical information, and therefore it needs commas. The commas cannot be omitted.

Note the difference:

The Rose Bowl which took place last year was rained out.

Here we are referring to a specific Rose Bowl. The words "which took place last year" restrict the meaning of "Rose Bowl". They narrow it down to only last year's Rose Bowl. Now the relative clause is restrictive and no commas are used.

CJ

W4j3d · Answer

This was not mentioned in the book. Thank you very much. This will help me both in my writing and at the test I'm taking tomorrow <img class='emoticon' style='Width:19px;Height:19px;' data-delaysrc='https://uat-englishforward-forums-backend.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/Emoticons/1.gif' src='https://uat-englishforward-forums-backend.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/Emoticons/1.gif' alt='Emotion: smile'/>

W4j3d · Answer

Can you also please reply to this thread: ?

Thank you,

CalifJim · Answer

w4j3dCan you also please reply to this thread: ?Thank you,

I'm not very good with questions about punctuation, so I don't think I can help you there. Let's let someone else explain that who knows better than I do. Sorry.

CJ

W4j3d · Answer

No problem

There is actually an important question which could lead me to know why/how the commas there are used.

I'll cite the question here, if you'd like to answer it, please do. If you can't, just leave it

... "Running toward third base, he suddenly realized how stupid he looked."

By the way, I have a relative question about this specific sentence. How is "Running toward third base" connected to the rest of the sentence? There seems to be no connectors.

CalifJim · Answer

w4j3dRunning toward third base, he suddenly realized how stupid he looked.

The first part, Running toward third base, is like an incomplete sentence at the beginning of another complete sentence. These most often have the -ing form of a verb (running), and they are set off by commas from the rest of the sentence. Most of the time these have no connector words, so that's not very unusual here.

The whole sentence, if you complete the clause at the beginning, means:

As he was running toward third base, he suddenly realized how stupid he looked.
_____________

Here's another:

Taking the change, the customer left the store quickly.

This means something like this:

After he took the change, the customer left the store quickly.
___

So you see, you can't always add the exact same words to complete that first clause. The meaning may be different for different sentences. It depends on the situation that the sentence describes.
___________

These constructions (up to the comma) are called 'participial clauses' because the -ing form at the beginning is the present participle of a verb. These clauses are always subordinate to the main sentence, so they are set off by commas.

CJ

Quick grammar question (no.3)

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