When is "which" wrong SAT GRAMMAR

Test Preparation SAT Preparation
1

<p>Can someone explain to me how to tell if the "which" in a FIXING SENTENCES is wrong?
Mainly when its comes after a "phrase" + "comma" + "which" + "phrase." </p>

<p>pronoun-antecedent kinda deal. Like I can't tell if it has antecedent or not.</p>

<p>I know the constructions:
1)"Preposition + which" is usually right
2) It usually signifies a non-essential clause when it is surrounded by commas.</p>

<p>But how do you tell Like this example:</p>

<p>The temperature dropped suddenly last night, (which will mean that the shoots emerging from the soil will be killed by the frost).</p>

<p>A. which will mean that the shoots emerging from the soil will be killed by the frost.
B. which will mean that the frost will kill the shoots emerging from the soil.
C. and this will mean that the shoots emerging from the soil will be killed by the frost.
D. and the resulting frost will kill the shoots that are emerging from the soil.
E. and as a result, the shoots will be killed by the frost, emerging from the soil.</p>

2

<p>I’m going to post here to to make sure if I’m right or not:</p>

<p>I believe that which has no antecedent. “Which” has to refer back to noun or gerund which the beginning of the sentence doesn’t have. “Which” doesn’t correspond to temperature or night and therefore it is wrong. Cross out A and B. C is a passive sentence so eliminate that. Between D and E(maybe even C if you couldn’t cross that out), D is the best answer. </p>

<p>Can anyone confirm?</p>

3

<p>All answer choices sound iffy. But if pressed, I would agree with MedicalBoy with D.</p>

<p>A and B = Eliminated because of incorrect use of which.
C and E = passive voice</p>

4

<p>“Which” here is wrong because it’s unclear whether it’s referring to the temperature or to the night.</p>

<p>“D” is right because it’s the most clear and most effective. Even though I think it still suffers from grammar errors (“will” should be “would”), the rest of the answers are blatantly wrong.</p>

5

<p>Here are more “which” problems that I can’t really figure out by ear and find what the antecedent is.</p>

<p>For #1: What question do you ask to find out what “which” is reffering to. For normal pronoun antecedent you would go "Who/what ate the apple?–> Jorge. So “he” is correct. But for this one how do you know?</p>

<ol>
<li>Bertha Lamme received her engineering degree in (1893, which she then specialized professionally) in the design of motors and generators. </li>
</ol>

<p>(A) 1893, which she then specialized professionally
(B) 1893, specializing as her profession
(C) 1893 and, as a professional, specialized
(D) 1893, then, for a profession, specializes
(E) 1893, she has specialized as a professional.</p>

<p>I crossed C because the gerund seemed to create a fragment. E is a comma splice. I don’t know whats wrong with D. However, C’s “and” doesn’t seem in the correct place. And I don’t know how to figure interepret "which in A. So it’s between A,C,D.</p>

<ol>
<li>The name “transferware” (comes from a nineteenth-century technique for which) a pattern is engraved onto a copper roll, printed on tissue paper, and transferred onto earthenware dishes.</li>
</ol>

<p>(A) comes from a nineteenth-century technique for which
(B) comes from a nineteenth-century technique according to which
(C) comes from a nineteenth-century technique whereby
(D) is a nineteenth-century technique wherein
(E) means it is a nineteenth-century technique by which</p>

<p>Another type of question that gives me a hard time, what to choose to replace “for which”.
(i.e. what’s the difference between: for which, to which, whereby, wherein, by which?)</p>

6

<p>anyone? it looks like a lot, but its just 2 problems, the other writing is my Process of elemination.</p>

7

<p>Where are these examples from? Just curious…</p>

8

<p>1) C. In A, “which” is wrong and D is a tense error.</p>

<p>2) I think its C because I think whereby means by which. I just need to find a reason for B to see why its wrong/right. Both B and C seem to fit fine in the sentence.</p>

<p>I believe these are from the online course?</p>

9

<p>Thank you for clarifying why D is wrong, verb tense, overlooked it… [sigh]. But I dont understand why which is wrong other than sounding awkward. And can you justify a bit more on C for purposes of understanding please.</p>

<p>lol I wish i had the online course, but I got these from perusing writing threads started on this forum.</p>

10

<p>Well now that D is gone, its between A and C. “Which” is wrong because its ambiguous. In C cross out the prepositional phrase-“as a professional”- and then it should sound like a normal phrase.</p>

11

<p>I did that but it just seems “off” when you see and “and,” instead of “,and”.</p>

<p>HOW? how do you tell which is ambiguous. what question do you ask yourself to tell? Maybe a better question is “Do you have an example where “___<em>__,which</em>.” is used correctly?”</p>

12

<p>",and" is used for two independent clauses but there is only one in this sentence. The commas are there for the prepositional(non-essential) phrase so you cross those out with the phrase.</p>

13

<p>Well, let me ask you a question. What, in your opinion, is “which” corresponding to?</p>

<p>EDIT: Actually this sentence has a improper conjunction. You wouldn’t use “which” as a conjunction.</p>

14

<p>To extend on MedicalBoy’s post for question #2…</p>

<p>The answer’s C because the SAT often has questions where you’re looking for the BEST answer, not the RIGHT answer. I think both B and C were grammatically correct, but C is just less awkward. </p>

<p>Also, errors with “which” usually stem from a wrong antecedent. For example, “Bertha Lamme received her engineering degree in 1893, which she then specialized professionally in the design of motors and generators.”</p>

<p>Here, “which” is referring to “her engineering degree.” This is wrong, since it should be referring to “Bertha Lamme.” </p>

<p>A way to fix this is “Bertha Lamme received her engineering degree in 1893, which she then USED TO specialize professionally in the design of motors and generators.” </p>

<p>In this case, “engineering degree” is still the object, but now you’re saying you’re USING the degree TO specialize in the design of motors and generators, which is right.</p>

15

<p>If these are not from college board, it explains a lot. I think that even more so that with math, it is a waste of time to study non-college board examples. On the real SAT, I don’t think you ever have to settle for an answer that is “the least flawed”. I bet a real sat would have something close to these options:</p>

<ol>
<li><p>“1893 and then specialized professionally…”</p></li>
<li><p>“comes from a nineteenth-century technique in which…”</p></li>
</ol>

<p>If I had no access to real materials other than the blue book, I would just keep reviewing the blue book over and over rather than throw off my “calibration” by messing with fake stuff. And with verbal material, it’s harder to detect when you are working on a bogus question. Big time drain.</p>

16

<p>That was a good explanation. So to find the refferent to which, you usually look to the noun preceding “which”? How did you know how to correct the sentence? Like what did you replace “which” with? </p>

<p>Bertha Lamme received her engineering degree in 1893, [a degree] she then specialized professionally in the design of motors and generators.</p>

<p>^ that still sounds somewhat right? and 2 people told me that which has no antecdent?</p>

17

<p>To answer your questions: </p>

<p>1) I would say it’s USUALLY the noun preceding “which” for SAT purposes, but definitely not always. </p>

<p>2) In my example, I didn’t even touch “which,” I just added words to change what “which” was referring to. I think that’s really the crux of the matter; you have to make sure “which” adds detail to the correct subject.</p>

<p>3) I don’t quite understand your fix of the sentence? Replacing “which” with the subject would be correct, but again you would have to add “used to” before “specialized professionally.”</p>

<p>4) And maybe “antecedent” isn’t the correct term, but problems with “which” usage definitely mostly fall on wrong subject pairing… </p>

<p>I hoped this helped you at all haha</p>

18

<p>Thanks for your time, hopefully i understand it after perusing more of the forum. But you defintiely helped.</p>