by when or by which

Status
Not open for further replies.

jasonlulu_2000

Senior Member
Joined
Apr 2, 2012
Member Type
Student or Learner
Native Language
Chinese
Home Country
China
Current Location
China
Richard is expected to return in January, by _____ everything should be ready.
A. which B. when

I will go for A since which refers to January.
Or I think:
Richard is expected back in January, when everything should be ready.

Am I right?

What is a native's opinion?

Jason
 

Barb_D

Moderator
Staff member
Joined
Mar 12, 2007
Member Type
Other
Native Language
American English
Home Country
United States
Current Location
United States
Richard is expected to return in January, by _____ everything should be ready.
A. which B. when

I will go for A since which refers to January.
Or I think:
Richard is expected back in January, when everything should be ready.

Am I right?

What is a native's opinion?

Jason

I don't like either of the choices.


I would use one of these:
Richard is expected to return in January. By then, everything should be ready.
Richard is expected to return in January, by which time everything should be ready. - Not great, but better than "by which"
Richard is expected to return in January, when everything should be ready. (Your suggestion, which was good.)
 

5jj

Moderator
Staff member
Joined
Oct 14, 2010
Member Type
English Teacher
Native Language
British English
Home Country
Czech Republic
Current Location
Czech Republic
I'd say, "by which time".

"By when" is just about possible; "by which" is not.
 

5jj

Moderator
Staff member
Joined
Oct 14, 2010
Member Type
English Teacher
Native Language
British English
Home Country
Czech Republic
Current Location
Czech Republic
Richard is expected to return in January, when everything should be ready. (Your suggestion, which was good.)
No. Jason's suggstion was 'by when', which is not good, in my opinion.
 

Barb_D

Moderator
Staff member
Joined
Mar 12, 2007
Member Type
Other
Native Language
American English
Home Country
United States
Current Location
United States

jasonlulu_2000

Senior Member
Joined
Apr 2, 2012
Member Type
Student or Learner
Native Language
Chinese
Home Country
China
Current Location
China
Thanks!

Just one more question: Could I say "by January everything should be ready"?

If yes, why couldn't I say "by which"? I want to use "which" to replace "January" as a noun. Like "We met in January, in which a lot of weird things happened". Here, which =January.

Or are you going to tell me that if we write a sentence using "by", then we tend to say "by which time" instead of "by which"?
 

Barb_D

Moderator
Staff member
Joined
Mar 12, 2007
Member Type
Other
Native Language
American English
Home Country
United States
Current Location
United States
Thanks!

Just one more question: Could I say "by January everything should be ready"?

If yes, why couldn't I say "by which"? I want to use "which" to replace "January" as a noun. Like "We met in January, in which a lot of weird things happened". Here, which =January.

Or are you going to tell me that if we write a sentence using "by", then we tend to say "by which time" instead of "by which"?

I can only tell you what is natural. Perhaps 5jj can give you the reasons why. (Or tell you that it sounds okay in BrE.)

We met in January, a month in which a lot of weird things happened.
We met in January, when a lot of weird things happened.

Yes, we say "by which time" instead of "by which."
 

Barb_D

Moderator
Staff member
Joined
Mar 12, 2007
Member Type
Other
Native Language
American English
Home Country
United States
Current Location
United States
No worries. It's not like you did something really egrejus. Like speeled something worng or typed it wrogn like I usually do :)

Edited to add: Note to learners - this post is full of intentional errors. Do not emulate.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Top