Helping others is a habit,____ you can learn even at an early age.

[diamondcutter]

Helping others is a habit,____ you can learn even at an early age.
A. it B. that C. what D. one
Which choice is correct?
THANKS.

 

[bhaisahab]

Which one would you choose?

 

[diamondcutter]

I'm not sure. How about 'B. that'?

 

[bhaisahab]

That's OK if you leave out the comma. Otherwise use D "one".

 

[tzfujimino]

[STRIKE]I think 'which' is the best.
(However, we don't have that option. It's not a good test question, in my opinion.)
[/STRIKE]

 

[missie123]

Why A) it can't be used in that sentence?

Please explain to me.

Thank you.

 

[diamondcutter]

Could I ask three more questions?
1. If we choose D "one",what's the relationship between the part before the comma and the part after the comma?
2. Why can't we choose "what"?
3. Can we use "which"?
THANKS.

 

[tzfujimino]

Why A) it can't be used in that sentence?

Please explain to me.

Thank you.

Hello, missie.

You can't connect the two sentences with the 'personal' pronoun 'it'. Instead, you need to use a 'relative' pronoun - in this case, 'which'.
[STRIKE]
Helping others is a habit, which you can learn even at an early age[[/STRIKE]/I].

If you wish to use 'it', you'll need to divide the sentence above into two:

Helping others is a habit. You can learn it even at an early age.

I hope my response will be of some help to you.

 

[tzfujimino]

Could I ask three more questions?
1. If we choose D "one",what's the relationship between the part before the comma and the part after the comma?
2. Why can't we choose "what"?
3. Can we use "which"?
THANKS.

Hello, diamondcutter.

1. 'one you can learn even at an early age' is in apposition to 'a habit'.
2. If I had to use 'what', I'd write:

Helping others is a habit. That/It is what you can learn even at an early age.

or[STRIKE]

Helping others is a habit, which is what you can learn even at an early age.

3. Yes. That's what I suggested.[/STRIKE]

I hope you will find my post helpful.

 

[bhaisahab]

It doesn't work for me with "which".

 

[tzfujimino]

It doesn't work for me with "which".

Hello, bhaisahab.
May I ask why 'which' doesn't work?
Is it ungrammatical? Should it be a restrictive clause?

 

[Rover_KE]

Like 'that', 'which' would only be correct without the comma.

 

[diamondcutter]

It doesn't work for me with "which".

Do you mean 'which' is not correct here?
Thanks.

 

[emsr2d2]

Yes, that's what it means.

The following are all grammatically correct:

Helping others is a habit which you can learn at an early age. ("which" with no comma)
Helping others is a habit that you can learn at an early age. ("that" with no comma)
Helping others is a habit you can learn at an early age. (neither "which" nor "that")

Helping others is a habit. You can learn it at an early age.
Helping others is a habit. It can be learnt/learned at an early age.

 

[tzfujimino]

I'd like to take back what I said about the relative pronoun 'which'.
I apologize for any confusion my posts may have caused.

 

[diamondcutter]

Helping others is a habit, which you can learn at an early age.

If we keep the comma in this sentence, can we consider the second part to be a non-restrictive relative clause? Just like the following sentences:
They had a fine walk too, which had done his liver good.
He asked me to explain to him the art of writing poetry, which cannot be taught.

THANKS.

 

[TheParser]

I'd like to take back what I said about the relative pronoun 'which'.

***** NOT A TEACHER *****


Hello, Tzfujimino:

"Which" IS correct when it refers to the idea in the whole preceding sentence:

"He admires Mrs. Brown, which surprises me." ( = and THIS surprises me) -- Quirk and Greenbaum, A Concise Grammar of Contemporary English.

"The night was dark, which made the journey dangerous." -- Smart, English Review Grammar.

"We are going to move quickly, which is just what our opponents do not expect." -- Pence and Emery, A Grammar of Present-Day English.




*****

If we tweaked the OP's sentence, I THINK that "which" would be appropriate:

"Helping others is a habit, which is a big surprise to many people." (= The fact that helping others is a habit surprises many people.)



James

 

[TheParser]

If we keep the comma in this sentence, can we consider the second part to be a non-restrictive relative clause?

***** NOT A TEACHER *****


Hello, Diamondcutter:


In my OPINION, the answer is NO.

That is to say, "which you can learn even at an early age" is not a proper non-restrictive clause in "Helping others is a habit, which you can learn even at an early age."

As the other posters said, one needs to say "Helping others is a habit that / which you can learn even at an early age." (a restrictive clause)

*****

If you want "which you can learn even at an early age" to serve as a non-restrictive clause, I think that it will be necessary to tweak that sentence:

"The habit of helping others needs to more widely practiced."

"You can learn that habit even at an early age."

"The habit of helping others, which you can learn even at an early age, needs to be more widely practiced."



James

 

[diamondcutter]

Hi, Parser. Thank you so much for your help. I’ve learned a lot from your posts. As a non-native speaker, it’s a pity that in most cases I can only analyze a sentence grammatically, not semantically because of lacking enough English language sense. In the case of the sentence I asked, you native speakers instinctively know that ‘you can learn even at an early age’ should be a restrictive relative clause to ‘habit’, not a non-restrictive one. Could I say that? I’m looking forward to your reply. Thanks again.

 

[Matthew Wai]

@ OP, I am the same as you, but we can learn, see http://www.grammar-monster.com/glossary/restrictive_clause.htm

Not a teacher.