The car of which windows are broken in mine.

Question

Some Korean English teacher insists that the is not needed when they are plural like

1 )The car whose windows are broken is mine.

-> The car of which windows are broken in mine.

However I think that the is needed like

The car of which the windows are broken in mine.

Or is there a case 'the' is not needed when whose changes to of which?

What do you native English speakers? Thank you so much as usual in advance!

GPY · Accepted Answer

"The car of which (the) windows are broken is mine" is, I suppose, worse without "the", but it is strained and unnatural even with "the".

Hans51 · Answer

Thank you so much but grammar books say that 'the' is needed for 'of which' and the teacher says 'the' is not needed when it is plural.

By the way, so do you think that just 'whose windows' is a natural one, right?

Thank you so much as usual in advance!

GPY · Answer

Hans51Thank you so much but grammar books say that 'the' is needed for 'of which' and the teacher says 'the' is not needed when it is plural.

Neither of those statements is true in general. It depends on the specific context. Perhaps the grammar book is restricting the scope of the statement somehow.

Hans51By the way, so do you think that just 'whose windows' is a natural one, right?

The question of whether "whose" should be used with inanimate objects is a perennial one. Many people insist that it is perfectly correct. Some people say that it doesn't sound right to them. However, even allowing that "whose" is correct, "The car with the broken windows is mine" feels more normal and natural in everyday English.

The car of which windows are broken in mine.

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