warriorsquared wrote:
Can someone explain something to me?
In answer choice B, why does 'which' modify prices and not computer chips?
I was under the impression that which modifies the word immediately preceding it.
I get that A is the right answer, but don't fully get why the use of 'which' in B is wrong.
Hi warriorsquared,
I don’t know whether you are looking for the reply or not, but here it is anyways.
You are correct in saying that the “which” modifier modifies the preceding noun, but it can also modify a slightly far away noun, depending on the context of the sentence. Let’s see how:
•
The sword of the great Tipu Sultan,
which was used in the famous battle of Pollilur, resides in the Local Arts Museum.
In the above sentence, the modifier ‘which’ jumps over the prepositional phrase “of the great Tipu Sultan” to modify slightly far away noun ‘the sword’ since the prepositional phrase is modifying the noun “the sword” and hence it cannot be placed anywhere else in the sentence.
Let’s take two more examples:
•
The Hindi translation of this book,
which was done by a prominent Hindi author, is one of the best Hindi translations till today. (‘which’ modifies ‘The Hindi translation’)
• The English translation of
the book,
which was originally written in Hindi, was done in 1998. (‘which’ modifies ‘the book’)
To learn more about how a noun modifier can modify a slightly far away noun, please refer to the following link:
noun-modifiers-can-modify-slightly-far-away-noun-135868.html#p1105003 Note that, when there are more than one possible antecedents for a pronoun, then we replace the pronoun by the possible antecedents one by one and check which one of the antecedents makes sense in the sentence.
Now, coming to your question, let’s replace “which” by “plunging prices” and “computer chips”:
• Because of plunging prices for computer chips,
which is due to an oversupply, the manufacturer has announced that it will cut production by closing its factories for two days a month.
As we can see, it does not make sense to say “computer chips is due to an oversupply”. So, “which” cannot refer to “computer chips”.
Now, it makes sense to say “plunging prices is due to an oversupply”, but the subject verb pair does not agree in number. So, this is also incorrect. However, now we know that logically “which” can refer to plunging prices.
Hope this helps!
Deepak