How to use "of which"

Status
Not open for further replies.

joseph0928

Junior Member
Joined
Jun 22, 2014
Member Type
Student or Learner
Native Language
Chinese
Home Country
Taiwan
Current Location
Taiwan
Hi

If I refer to the possessive of a thing not a person, are the following sentences acceptable?
1. The house color of which is red will be your new home.
2. The house of which color is red will be your new home.
3. The house whose color is red will be your new home.

Thank you
 

teechar

Moderator
Staff member
Joined
Feb 18, 2015
Member Type
English Teacher
Native Language
English
Home Country
Iraq
Current Location
Iraq
#1 and #2 are incorrect. #3 is OK. Alternatively, you can say: "The red house will be your new home."
 

tzfujimino

Key Member
Joined
Dec 8, 2007
Member Type
English Teacher
Native Language
Japanese
Home Country
Japan
Current Location
Japan
"The house the color of which is red will be your new home." would be grammatical, but teechar's version is far better.

:)
 

Rover_KE

Moderator
Staff member
Joined
Jun 20, 2010
Member Type
Retired English Teacher
Native Language
British English
Home Country
England
Current Location
England
Joseph, for examples of how to use 'of which', click here and just look at the sentences where the two words appear together and are not separated.
 

emsr2d2

Moderator
Staff member
Joined
Jul 28, 2009
Member Type
English Teacher
Native Language
British English
Home Country
UK
Current Location
UK
"The house, the color of which is red, will be your new home (no full stop here)" would be grammatical, but teechar's version is far better.

:)

Note my punctuation above.
 

Tarheel

VIP Member
Joined
Jun 16, 2014
Member Type
Interested in Language
Native Language
American English
Home Country
United States
Current Location
United States
Most people would simply say: the red house.
 

emsr2d2

Moderator
Staff member
Joined
Jul 28, 2009
Member Type
English Teacher
Native Language
British English
Home Country
UK
Current Location
UK
I agree completely. All of the examples are unnecessarily complicated versions of "The red house will be your new home". Unfortunately, many exercises require students to create unnatural sentences in order to practice certain grammar points.
 

tedmc

VIP Member
Joined
Apr 16, 2014
Member Type
Interested in Language
Native Language
Chinese
Home Country
Malaysia
Current Location
Malaysia
Unfortunately, many exercises require students to create unnatural sentences in order to practice certain grammar points.​


I thought "practice" is American spelling. The verb in BrE is "practise".
 

Matthew Wai

VIP Member
Joined
Nov 29, 2013
Member Type
Native Language
Chinese
Home Country
China
Current Location
China
Is it OK to say 'The red house, whose color has faded slightly, will be your new home'?
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Top