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Sat 16 Aug, 2014 03:29 am
"I love universities in the United States which are very beautiful."
So does the "which" in the sentence define universities or the United States? If it defines the universities and you think this sentence is correct then it's OK. But if it defines the United States, please tell me how can I modify the sentence and make the "which" defines universities. Thanks.
@zhuyuxiong,
It refers to the universities, but can be misconstrued.
"I love universities in the United States which are very beautiful" could also mean I love only those: I don't love the universities in the USA which are not beautiful.
@zhuyuxiong,
It's correct since "universities" is the subject noun and "United States" is the pronoun.
@zhuyuxiong,
It's a perfectly understandable sentence but the grammatical purist could say that the modifier is misplaced in that it doesn't follow its referent directly. So it might be better to say "I love United States universities, which are very beautiful." (Although, as has already been pointed out, there's the danger of misunderstanding this to mean that there are some universities which are not beautiful and which you do not love.)
@Lustig Andrei,
Lustig Andrei wrote:... "I love United States universities, which are very beautiful." ... there's the danger of misunderstanding this to mean that there are some universities which are not beautiful and which you do not love.
The comma should prevent that. There probably are some ugly American universities however.
Now I see. Thank you all for your help. ^ ^
@Lustig Andrei,
Quote:I love United States universities, which are very beautiful." (Although, as has already been pointed out, there's the danger of misunderstanding this to mean that there are some universities which are not beautiful and which you do not love.)
I understand that "which" implies that all USA universities are very beautiful. If you want to restrict to loving only the universities that are beautiful, you have to use "that":
I love US universities
that are beautiful.
@Doubtful,
Quote:I love United States universities, which are very beautiful.
and
Quote:I love US universities that are beautiful.
They both imply selectivity to the individual, and are grammatically proper. IMHO
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