The use of 'of which' -- is it correct here?

[Just Some Guy]

Hi there,

I have two sentences, although the latter sounds more correct, it feels as though it is missing something that the first sentence possesses. Am I using 'of which' correctly in the first sentence, or should I just use 'that'?

Sentence 1: "Tasty deserts share ingredients of which ordinary deserts lack."
Sentence 2: "Tasty deserts share ingredients that ordinary deserts lack."

Perhaps there's just a better way to phrase this?

Your help would be much appreciated.

 

[Rover_KE]

Welcome to the forum, Just Some Guy.

I think you mean 'desserts'.

#1 would be grammatical without 'of'.
#2 is fine.

 

[tedmc]

The sentence seems that to imply that normal desserts are not tasty.
How about : Great tasting desserts have extra ingredients that normal desserts don't.

 

[Just Some Guy]

Oh dear...yes! I did mean 'desserts', aha.

Great! Thanks for all the comments

 

[TheParser]

NOT A TEACHER




1. "Tasty desserts have ingredients which ordinary desserts don't."
2. "Tasty desserts have ingredients that ordinary desserts don't."

Kindly remember that most Americans would prefer No. 2.

Most American teachers suggest using "that" for defining clauses. That is to say, the clause "ordinary desserts don't" is absolutely necessary and cannot be deleted (dropped).

"Which" is used for non-defining clauses (extra information that is not essential):

"Tasty desserts, which I eat every day, have a lot of sugar." (Please note the commas. They indicate that the information can be deleted without harming the basic meaning of "Tasty desserts have a lot of sugar."

 

[Rover_KE]

Great! Thanks for all the comments. [STRIKE][/STRIKE]

Please don't use home-made emoticons to replace standard punctuation marks.

If you want to insert a smiley you can click on the icon.

 

[Charlie Bernstein]

As the Parser says, here in the US, "which" would be wrong.

In the US, we might say either:

1. He stole the pie that was on the porch. (There was more than one pie. One was on the porch. That's the pie he stole.)

2. He stole the pie, which was on the porch. (There was one pie. It was on the porch. He stole it.)

The British would use "which" in both cases. I believe that British and American English use the same comma rule.

 

[engee30]

1. He stole the pie that was on the porch. (There was more than one pie. One was on the porch. That's the pie he stole.)

Charlie Bernstein, how ever can you tell from that single sentence that there were more pies?

 

[Roman55]

The British would use "which" in both cases.

No they wouldn't. You can't make sweeping statements like that.

 

[Charlie Bernstein]

No they wouldn't. You can't make sweeping statements like that.

In a thread a while back I was emphatically corrected by a British teacher for changing a poster's "which" to "that" in exactly that situation. The poster was studying British English. In fact, that's the only reason I wrote the remarks above.

I wish you'd been around then! Since you're here now, I hope you'll eleborate.

 

[Charlie Bernstein]

It didn't need correcting. As I said in post 6, 'which' is acceptable in BrE.

Good to know. Just to be clear, are you saying that BOTH "which" and "that" are acceptable in British English?

- It's the rule which I'm wondering about.
- It's the rule that I'm wondering about.

I should take a BESL course!