Relative adjective 'which'

Question

The police found an old coin which date had become worn and illegible.The police found an old coin whose date had become worn and illegible.I have no idea why the first sentence is ungrammatical. I should think that which above is an relative adjectiveAs far as I know, the following sentences are grammatical.Cigarette smoke has been found to be a direct cause of lung cancer in rats used in government studies, which fact suggests that a similar casual relationship may exist between smoking and cancer in humans as well.Almost no funding is available now for basic research, which situation is surely the result of shortsighted government policies.Almost no funding is available now for basic research, which intolerable situation is surely the result of shortsighted government policies.

AlpheccaStars · Accepted Answer

anonymousThe police found an old coin which date had become worn and illegible.

You need a possessive relative pronoun: The coin's date ... -> ( the coin whose date ....)

Alternatively you need a preposition: The date on the coin had... -> (the coin on which the date ....

AlpheccaStars · Answer

Cigarette smoke has been found to be a direct cause of lung cancer in rats used in government studies, which ~~fact~~ suggests that a similar casual relationship may exist between smoking and cancer in humans as well.

The sentence is not grammatical. "Which" is the subject of the verb "suggests". Having two subjects is not grammatical.

The results of a research study are not considered to be a fact. They are evidence of a relationship.

Facts are much more concrete and indisputable.. For example, John F. Kennedy was born in 1913.

AlpheccaStars · Answer

Almost no funding is available now for basic research, which situation is surely the result of shortsighted government policies.

That is not grammatical either. "Which + noun" is used for questions.

The situation can be A  or B.
Which situation is it?

Here is a correction to the sentence:

Almost no funding is available now for basic research and that (situation) is surely the result of shortsighted government policies.

Almost no funding is available now for basic research and that intolerable situation is surely the result of shortsighted government policies.

Anonymous · Answer

anonymouscoin whose date

This is odd because coins usually have a year written on them.

CalifJim · Answer

anonymous
As far as I know, the following sentences are grammatical.
Cigarette smoke has been found to be a direct cause of lung cancer in rats used in government studies, which fact suggests that a similar casual relationship may exist between smoking and cancer in humans as well. Everything before the comma is the fact in question.
Almost no funding is available now for basic research, which situation is surely the result of shortsighted government policies.
Everything before the comma is the situation in question.
Almost no funding is available now for basic research, which intolerable situation is surely the result of shortsighted government policies. Everything before the comma is the situation in question.

Note that in all the examples above the relative clause is non-restrictive; hence, the comma. You can paraphrase 'which fact' as 'this fact' and 'which situation' as 'this situation'.

Contrast:

anonymousThe police found an old coin which date had become worn and illegible.

The clause before 'which' is NOT the date, nor does it contain a date. This is a restrictive relative clause. There is no comma. You cannot paraphrase 'which date' as 'this date' because there is no date previously mentioned that you can possibly be referring to. That's why this one is wrong. You might, however, have the following, where a date is actually mentioned before the relative clause refers to it:

The police found a coin dated 1845, which date was nearly illegible.

In short, you can't use relative adjectives in places where there is nothing in the previous text for them to refer to. In general this means relative adjectives don't often occur in restrictive relative clauses.

CJ

Relative adjective 'which'

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