Use of 'in'

Question

Direct election is a term describing a system of choosing political officeholders in which the voters directly cast ballots for the person, persons or political party that they desire to see elected.hi,I don't know why 'in' is used in this sentence. i often see 'in' used with 'which' like the case above, why is that?Could someone tell me this in detail? what section of the grammar should I study to master this?I mean, I get the meaning of the sentence of course, but if i was to write it, I wouldn't when to use 'in' in such way.Thanks,

Clive · Accepted Answer

Hi,
Direct election is a term describing a system of choosing political officeholders in which the voters directly cast ballots for the person, persons or political party that they desire to see elected.

I don't know why 'in' is used in this sentence. i often see 'in' used with 'which' like the case above, why is that?
Could someone tell me this in detail? what section of the grammar should I study to master this?
I mean, I get the meaning of the sentence of course, but if i was to write it, I wouldn't when to use 'in' in such way.

Let me ask you this.
Would you say 'This is the room which Mary cooks dinner' or 'This is the room in which Mary cooks dinner'? I hope you see that it is of course the latter.

In my opinion, the broad underlying idea is that you are defining something by describing its "contents".
The room "contains" Mary (at least when she is cooking).
The system "contains" the methods and details of voting that are described.

Here are some other examples of such definitions.
Love is (a term describing) an emotion in which you think with your heart instead of your head.
Biology is (a term describing) a subject in which you study life forms.
Asthma is (a term describing) a disease in which you have congested lungs.

Best wishes, Clive

Use of 'in'

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