frequently used

joon · Post by **joon** » Fri May 09, 2003 9:49 am

(1) The fish which I caught yesterday is still alive.

(2) The fish that I caught yesterday is still alive.

I think both are grammatically correct.
However, I like to know which is more frequently used between (1) and (2) among native speakers ?

Roger · Post by **Roger** » Sat May 10, 2003 4:38 am

"The fish I caught is still alive"
would be more ocommonly used than any of the other two variants! The relative pronoun "which" or "that" is formal but optional.

joon · Post by **joon** » Sun May 11, 2003 1:31 am

I met next question some days ago.

(Q1) Which is correct? (3)

(1) I have a house (which) window is pretty good.

(2) I met a woman (whom) could speak six languages.

(3) The fish which I caught yesterday is still alive.

I was thinking of next question when I met the question

(Q2) which is the most acceptable? (3)

(1) The fish which I caught yesterday is still alive.

(2) The fish that I caught yesterday is still alive.

(3) The fish I caught yesterday is still alive.

I think (Q2) is more educational than (Q1).

Because (Q1) shows two ungrammatical sentences, and one awkard sentence.

That leads students to be familiar with ungrammatical and awkard.

What do you think of my point?

I have another question here.

(1) I have a house whose window is pretty good.
(2) I have a house its window is pretty good.

Which is acceptable between (1) and (2) ?

Roger · Post by **Roger** » Sun May 11, 2003 1:36 am

A house WHOSE window.... (not 'which' nor 'its window'...)

I met a woman WHO could speak six languages
(not 'WHOM' as "who' is subject and 'whom' would be object).

joon · Post by **joon** » Sun May 11, 2003 9:14 am

Thank you very much, Roger.

What about "of which"?

(example) I have a house of which window is pretty good.

Is this acceptable English?

Roger · Post by **Roger** » Mon May 12, 2003 2:02 am

No. It's difficult to make head or tail out of this sentence!
'of which' is what I might call a 'partitive', it implies being a part of house. BUt 'window' needs a quantifier such as "one" or 'several" or a plural marker -s:
"a house of which a window is..."
'a house of which several windows..."

But in your previous sentence, you used 'whose', relative pronoun. It means that the window(s) of THIS PARTICULAR house.