This short video explains the correct usage of which, who, whose, and where from the perspective of the GMAT sentence correction.
Use of Which, Who, Whose, Where on GMAT
Use of Which, Who, Whose, Where
This short article will cover the usage of which, who, whose, and where from the perspective of GMAT sentence correction. Understanding the usage of these terms is very important for navigating modifier-based sentence correction questions.
Usage of Which, Who, whose, and Where
These terms, when preceded by a comma, refer to the noun just before the comma. Let us illustrate this concept, through the following example:
Example 1 -
France would play against Brazil, which is a stronger team, in the finals.
In this sentence, the word "which" refers to the noun "Brazil" because it is directly before the comma that "which" follows.
Please go through the following examples to gain further clarity on the usages of these terms.
Example 2 -
Jack would play against John, who is a stronger contender, in the finals.
In this sentence, the word "who" refers to the noun John because "John" directly precedes the comma that "which" follows. The word "who" does not refer to the noun "Jack", in this sentence, as "Jack" is far away from the comma. "Jack" is the subject of the sentence and the core meaning of the sentence is that "Jack" will play against "John" in the finals; the phrase "who is a stronger contender" modifies "John", as "John" directly precedes it.
Example 3 -
Jack would play against John, whose record is 90% wins, in the finals.
In this sentence, the word "whose" refers to the noun "John" and conveys the meaning that the record belongs to John. Once again, the word "whose" does not refer to the noun "Jack", in this sentence, as "Jack" is far away from the comma. "Jack" is the subject of the sentence and the core meaning of the sentence is that "Jack" will play against "John" in the finals; the phrase "whose record is 90% wins" modifies "John", as "John" directly precedes it.
Example 4 -
The finals are in DC, where Jack made his debut.
In this sentence, the word "where" refers to the noun DC; in this case, the noun is a location. Of course, in this case, there is confusion regarding which noun the term refers to because "which" can only be used to refer to a place. Nevertheless, please do keep in mind that which will also refer to the noun that directly precedes the comma that it follows.
Understanding the usage of which, who, whose, and where will go a long way towards helping you eliminate answer choices, in the GMAT sentence correction questions.
This article has deliberately been kept brief; for a more elaborate explanation, please refer to Experts' Global's Stage One Sentence Correction videos.
