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TenthCentury
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'noun+comma+which' rule usage 17 Nov 2022, 00:30
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Hello team,
I have a doubt regarding "noun+comma+which" concept.

According to the World Bank, the daily consumption of petroleum in Peru, which has already been approaching 250 barrels per day, will reach 270 barrels per day, in ten years.

Here, "which" is referring to the head of the noun phrase "consumption" or to the noun immediately before comma "Peru" ?

Thanks!
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'noun+comma+which' rule usage 17 Nov 2022, 05:37
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nipun2468
Hello team,
I have a doubt regarding "noun+comma+which" concept.

According to the World Bank, the daily consumption of petroleum in Peru, which has already been approaching 250 barrels per day, will reach 270 barrels per day, in ten years.

Here, "which" is referring to the head of the noun phrase "consumption" or to the noun immediately before comma "Peru" ?

Thanks!
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Hey nipun2468

Happy to help you with this.

It appears you're well aware of the concept of "Far-Away-Noun Modification", and how relative pronouns, such as which, that, and who, can jump over prepositional/adjectival phrases to modify the head noun (far-away-noun) before it. And you're right that this concept applies to the sentence you've shared.

The answer to your question lies in LOGICAL ANALYSIS. What this means is that "LOGIC" decides which of the preceding nouns "which" refers to. Let's understand:

There are three preceding nouns that 'which' could refer to: consumption, petroleum, or Peru. So, how do we identify the correct antecedent? We do it by understanding what the relative clause (modifier) is talking about: which has already been approaching 250 barrels per day.

Simply ask yourself, "what has already been approaching 250 barrels per day?" Is it Peru, a place? Is it petroleum? Or is it the consumption of petroleum?

There's also the clue that the main idea of the sentence talks about "consumption" and says that the "consumption will reach 270 barrels per day".


So, putting the two together, it becomes abundantly clear that "which" refers to "consumption" logically. Besides, Peru, a place, cannot be measured in terms of number of barrels per day, right? :)


Here's one of our articles on "Far-away-noun Modification": https://e-gmat.com/blogs/noun-modifiers ... away-noun/


I hope this helps improve your understanding and approach.


Happy Learning!

Abhishek :)