Job Discussion Forums

[Nabby Adams]

Just been asked this question and to be honest I am not 100% sure. Is this sentence correct?
"I met John whose every work I didn't know at all."

What say the experts?

[basiltherat]

IMHO, comma after 'John' ?

best
basil

[ntropy]

I almost always agree with Basil


...and I do again.

[ouyang]

Yes, you should separate non-restrictive clauses with commas, but this dependent clause is badly worded. Written as an independent clause, it would be, "I didn't know John's every work at all."

Either the word "every" needs to be omitted or replaced with another determiner/adjective. It's meaning is unclear.

[Madame J]

Hmm. To me it seems as though the latter part of the sentence (everything that comes after "John") is the wrong way round, possibly with the positives/negatives muddled too. Was the writer trying to say, "I didn't know any of his work", or is the meaning a bit more complex?

Hang on a sec, you say you were asking the experts. Never mind then, I shall be leaving.

[MO39]

I'd just write "I met John, whose work I didn't know at all". I can't imagine what function "every" plays in the original example; it seems superfluous, and confusing, to me.

[johnslat]

Or, since "work" here seems to be being used in the sense of creative productions (and is therefore countable), maybe this:

I met John, whose works I didn't know at all/was unfamiliar with.

Regards,
John (whose works I am very familiar with)