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hafgola
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A question on Whose 25 Sep 2011, 09:35
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Hi I have a question regarding the usage of Whose (or who, whom etc).

The sentence says:

Louis Brooks is a country singer from Knoxville, Tennesee, whose 1942 tour made a fortune.


In this sentence what is whose modifying - Louis Brooks or country singer ?

why is this construction alright since Tennessee is in between ?

In respected SC material I have been advised that Whose needs to modify the noun immediately beforehand.

how is the exact rule on this ?

Can someone out there advise me,
thanks in advance



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A question on Whose 25 Sep 2011, 10:05
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hafgola
Hi I have a question regarding the usage of Whose (or who, whom etc).

The sentence says:

Louis Brooks is a country singer from Knoxville, Tennesee, whose 1942 tour made a fortune.


In this sentence what is whose modifying - Louis Brooks or country singer ?

why is this construction alright since Tennessee is in between ?

In respected SC material I have been advised that Whose needs to modify the noun immediately beforehand.

how is the exact rule on this ?

Can someone out there advise me,
thanks in advance
Show more

I see it as a case of misplaced modifier and really don't think the sentence should be correct in its current form.

Louis Brooks, whose 1942 tour made a fortune, is a country singer from Knoxville, Tennesee.
This is one way to correct it.
"whose" modifies "Louis Brooks" and should be placed right after that noun+comma.

"whose" is a relative pronoun that could be used in a restrictive or non-restrictive clause, in this case non-restrictive- we can do without the interrupting clause- is more suitable.
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A question on Whose 25 Sep 2011, 10:14
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if the answer to Who/Whom is I, he, she, etc., then the correct word is 'Who'
and if the answer is me, him, her, etc. ,then the correct word is 'Whom'.

Consider the below Sentence -
Receiver of Wreck is an official of the British government [highlight]whose[/highlight] main task was to process incoming reports of shipwrecks.

Cheers!
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A question on Whose 25 Sep 2011, 20:32
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I agree with fluke and aja389
Just have another question -
We know that if whose, who or whom is placed just before a comma then it should modify the noun/pronoun just before the comma. But, if whose, who or whom is placed without the comma, how to find out what noun/pronoun does it modify?
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A question on Whose 26 Sep 2011, 02:01
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Ajay369
if the answer to Who/Whom is I, he, she, etc., then the correct word is 'Who'
and if the answer is me, him, her, etc. ,then the correct word is 'Whom'.
Show more

could you please explain this a bit further...

in this sentence: (from Manhattan page 88)
The security guard whom we met was nice

is it Whom because me say, we met HIM ?

Quote:
Consider the below Sentence -
Receiver of Wreck is an official of the British government [highlight]whose[/highlight] main task was to process incoming reports of shipwrecks.
Show more

Whose is modifying the Noun phrase Official of the British government ?

thanks
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A question on Whose 26 Sep 2011, 03:34
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gautammalik
I agree with fluke and aja389
Just have another question -
We know that if whose, who or whom is placed just before a comma then it should modify the noun/pronoun just before the comma. But, if whose, who or whom is placed without the comma, how to find out what noun/pronoun does it modify?
Show more

I can't think of any rule, but if I consider the statement Ajay369 wrote:

Receiver of Wreck is an official of the British government whose main task is to process incoming reports of shipwrecks.

Per me, whose somewhat ambiguously refers to "British government" because it makes perfect sense to associate government main task WITH processing incoming reports of shipwrecks.

La Salsa is the only Spanish restaurant in the locality whose food is palatable.
here "whose" is unambiguously referring to restaurant because food can only be from a restaurant, not locality.

I still advice to put whose near the noun it modifies- restrictive or non-restrictive.

Another scenario in which whose can be placed far:
The house that is painted red and whose windows are made of hard steel was constructed 200 years back.

This is equivalent of placing whose next to house:
"that is painted red and" can be taken out.
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A question on Whose 26 Sep 2011, 07:35
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hafgola
Ajay369
if the answer to Who/Whom is I, he, she, etc., then the correct word is 'Who'
and if the answer is me, him, her, etc. ,then the correct word is 'Whom'.

could you please explain this a bit further...

in this sentence: (from Manhattan page 88)
The security guard whom we met was nice

is it Whom because me say, we met HIM ?

Quote:
Consider the below Sentence -
Receiver of Wreck is an official of the British government [highlight]whose[/highlight] main task was to process incoming reports of shipwrecks.

Whose is modifying the Noun phrase Official of the British government ?

thanks
Show more

@hafgola - Answer is Yes for both.
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A question on Whose 26 Sep 2011, 18:36
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fluke


I can't think of any rule, but if I consider the statement Ajay369 wrote:

Receiver of Wreck is an official of the British government whose main task is to process incoming reports of shipwrecks.

Per me, whose somewhat ambiguously refers to "British government" because it makes perfect sense to associate government main task WITH processing incoming reports of shipwrecks.

La Salsa is the only Spanish restaurant in the locality whose food is palatable.
here "whose" is unambiguously referring to restaurant because food can only be from a restaurant, not locality.

I still advice to put whose near the noun it modifies- restrictive or non-restrictive.

Another scenario in which whose can be placed far:
The house that is painted red and whose windows are made of hard steel was constructed 200 years back.

This is equivalent of placing whose next to house:
"that is painted red and" can be taken out.
Show more

This is a perfect explanation !! +1 Kudos ...

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A question on Whose 27 Sep 2011, 04:03
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Alays whom replaces Him/her and who replaces he/she
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A question on Whose 30 Sep 2011, 08:33
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fluke
gautammalik
I agree with fluke and aja389
Just have another question -
We know that if whose, who or whom is placed just before a comma then it should modify the noun/pronoun just before the comma. But, if whose, who or whom is placed without the comma, how to find out what noun/pronoun does it modify?

I can't think of any rule, but if I consider the statement Ajay369 wrote:

Receiver of Wreck is an official of the British government whose main task is to process incoming reports of shipwrecks.

Per me, whose somewhat ambiguously refers to "British government" because it makes perfect sense to associate government main task WITH processing incoming reports of shipwrecks.

La Salsa is the only Spanish restaurant in the locality whose food is palatable.
here "whose" is unambiguously referring to restaurant because food can only be from a restaurant, not locality.

I still advice to put whose near the noun it modifies- restrictive or non-restrictive.

Another scenario in which whose can be placed far:
The house that is painted red and whose windows are made of hard steel was constructed 200 years back.

This is equivalent of placing whose next to house:
"that is painted red and" can be taken out.
Show more

Thanks @fluke for the explanation.



Archived Topic
Hi there,
This topic has been closed and archived due to inactivity or violation of community quality standards. No more replies are possible here.
Where to now? Join ongoing discussions on thousands of quality questions in our Sentence Correction (SC - EA only) Forum
Still interested in this question? Check out the "Best Topics" block above for a better discussion on this exact question, as well as several more related questions.
Thank you for understanding, and happy exploring!
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