原來which 用法是這樣，很多大學生都用錯了。

Which 用法1：

問：A family which quarrel amongst themselves…據説這裏的which 用法是錯誤的。A family which, a committee which, a group which不是很常見的配搭嗎？

答：按照英語慣用法，當指人的集合名同（team, audience, crew, jury, public,  committee, family）與複數動詞連用（即集合名詞不是表示整體而是表示組成人員）時，其關係代名詞應當是whom，而不應當是 which。如在這裏要正確的which 用法，就必須與單數動詞連用。例如：

The London team, which played so well last season, has done badly this season.

倫敦除上個賽季打得很好，這一賽季打得卻很糟。

Which 用法2：

問：It was raining, ________ was a pity.
A. what
B. that
C. the which
D. which
which所修飾的中心詞是什麼？

答：一般的形容詞子句都是修飾名詞的。Snakes which are poisonous should be avoided.（應避開有毒的蛇。）這種形容詞子句叫作 adnominal relative clause（修飾名詞的形容詞子句)。像上面試題中的 which子句與此不同，它的中心詞並不是一個名詞或一個名詞片語，而是前面的整個主要子句或主要子句的一部分，有時甚至是一連串的句子，道樣的形容洞子句則作sentential relative clause（修飾句子的形容詞子句，此時的 which 用法相當於 and that）：

• He invited us to dinner, which was very kind of him. 他邀請我們去吃飯，真是太好了。
• He said that he had never seen her before, which was not true.（which不是指整個主要子句，而是指受詞子句he had never seen her before）他說他以前從沒見過她，這不是真的。
• They say he plays truant, which he doesn’t. （which指he plays truant）他們說他愛翹課，但他並沒有那麼做。
• They dislike John, and that’s not surprising…; They dislike John, which is not surprising. 他們不喜歡約翰，這一點兒也不奇怪。

Which 用法3：

問：我看見英文句子“You and the girls may go, or you may send them by themselves, which perhaps will be still better…”翻譯為：“你讓女兒們自己去得了。要不然你和她們一道去，這樣做好些。”
這裏的which 用法是用來代“ You and the girls may go”（你和她們一道去）嗎?

答：從文法上看，which 用法顯然替代連接詞or之後的分句：you may send them by themselves。我會嘗試這樣翻譯：“你和女兒一起去吧，要不你就打發她們自己去，這樣或許更好些”

Which 用法4：

問：英文句子“Education alone can conduct us to that enjoyment which is best in quality and infinite in quantity”被翻譯為：“在質上最優，在量上無限，能夠引導我們走向快樂的惟有教育。”。請問which子句是修飾 education的嗎?

答：顯而易見，which子句是說明名詞 enjoyment的。但原譯文卻把 which子句譯成副詞了。我會這樣翻譯：“惟有教育才能把我們引哪到置量最優、數量無限的快樂中去”。

Which 用法5：

問：有關which（指人）。His brother has become an engineer, ______ he wanted to be.
A. who
B. what
C. which
D. that
這道試題要求選C. which，即which 用法指代表人的名詞 an engineer。但是，《朗文英語正詞典》（安徵科技出版社，p.447）明確指出：which 用法不能用來替代人。我感到無所適從。

答：對於英語初學者可以說關係代名詞 which 用法不能用來替代人，對於英語程度較高者則應指出：在下列三種情况下，which 用法可以用來替代人。

A.當關係代名詞 which 用法充當形容字句的補語或受詞時，可以用來表示某類人所具有的性格、人品丶素質、地位或職業等。例如：

• He imagined himself to be an artist which he was not. 雖然他不是藝術家，但是他卻把自己想像成一個藝術家。
• They accused him of being a traitor, which he was. 他們指責他當了叛徒，他還是當了叛徒。
• He is exactly the man which such an education was likely to form. 他正是這種教育可能造就出來的人。
• He is a teetotaller, which I am not. 他是個絕對禁酒主義者，而我不是。
• It is Freud the analyst which we most enjoy. 我麽最為欣賞的是分析家佛洛依德。
• He talked like a native, which he hardly was. 他說起話來像是個本地人，其實他不見得是。

B. which可以用來指代不分性别的嬰兒或兒童：

• This is the baby which needs inoculation. 這是那個需要打預防針的嬰兒。
• His mother had ten children, of which he was the oldest. 他的媽媽有十個孩子，他是最大的。

C. 當用作先行詞的集合名詞表示整體，而不是表示其成員時，應當使用關係代名詞which，但是最嚴格來説，這裡的 which 用法並不是指人，而是指與人有關的集體：

• a family which dates back to the Norman Conquest. 一個可追溯到諾曼第人征服英國時期的家族。
• the government, which is cutting its losses. 政府正在削減損失額。
• the committee which was responsible for this decision. 對這個決定負責的委員會。
• The audience, which was most enthusiastic, applauded the solosist. 極為熱情的觀眾為那位獨唱演員熱烈鼓掌。

Which 用法6 （by which time）:

問：有關by which time的用法。He came back late, ________ which time all the guests had already left.
A. at
B. after
C. by
D. during
答案為C。對介係詞by的意義和用法我是明白的（到……時，在……之前）但是對上句which用法卻感到很陌生。

答：這裡需要弄明白，上句中的關係代名詞 which是代替前面整個主要子句内容的，因此 which子句做修飾句子的形容詞子句（見which 用法2）上句的難點在於：which在子句中不是作主詞或受詞，也不是作介係詞受詞，而是作形容詞。因此，可以把 which叫做關係形容詞或關係限定詞（relative determiner）。通過這道試題，我們應當掌握住 which用作形容詞的用法：

• all again at 11, by which time the meeting should be over. 十一點鐘再打電話來，到那個時候會議該結束了。
• Tom spent four years in college, during which time he learned French.
• 湯姆在大學裡度過了四年的時光，在那段時間裡他學了法語。

題目的句意是：“他回來得很晚，到家時所有的客人都已經走了。”
另外，参見in( in which case)的文章。

Which 用法7 （which/that）：

問：《實用英語文法》（張道真編著，外研社，1995年，p.96）說:

“which代表事物，在子句中可以做主詞或受詞……that代表事物的時候更多一些，也可代表人，在子句中可作主詞、受詞或主詞補語。”

由此看來, which用法與that用法的區別有二：1. that可代表人，而 which則不能；2. that可作主詞補語，而 which則不能。我的题是：which永遠不能代表人，永遠不能作主詞補語嗎？請看下面的例句：

They accused him of being a traitor, which he was.

答：從英語教學法角度來看，《實用英語文法》的講法是正確的。但是，有較高英語程度的讀者則不應就此止步，而應當進一步認識到：在某些情况下，which也可以指人，更可以作主補語（參見which 用法5）。

Which 用法8 （which/that）：

問：A Comprehensive Grammar of the English Language一書在17.25中說：

“當關係代名詞在關係子句裡充當非介係詞的補語時，無論在限制性子句裡，還是在非限制性子句裡，人稱先行詞和非人稱先行詞之後都只能用 which：
He is a teetotaller. which I am not.
This is a powerful car, which my last car was not.”

根據我閱讀英文原文的經驗，似乎that在關係子句中也可以作主詞補語，是這樣嗎？

答：我認為這結論是片面的，並且與該書前面的論述互相矛盾，因為在限制性形容詞子句裡，that可以作主詞捕語，請看下面的例：

He is not the man that he was! 
他不是從前的那個人了！

Which 用法9（which/who）：

問：(1) Thomas Alva Edison is remembered chiefly as the man which invented the light bulb. (2) Mrs Swanson, a member of the social committee for the coming years, is the only woman which has a car.
老師跟我說上面的兩題均要求將 which改為who，由此判斷，關係代名詞 which 用法是不能指人的名詞的。但是下列句子如何解釋？

His brother has become an engineer, which he wanted to be.

答：對於初學者應當指出關係代名詞 which 用法一般是不能用來指人的。用 which來指人是有條件的。請參見which 用法5。

小練習：請選出錯誤的地方，並予改正。
The Tartar chief controls a thousand men, all of which must obey his orders in both war and peace.

Which  用法10（which…in/in which）：

問：Author Edith Wharton thoroughly understood the society _______.
A. she had grown up
B. which had she grown up in
C. in which she had grown up
D. she had grown up in it
我初學英語時就已牢記 the house in which I lived和 the house which I lived in（我住過的房子）這兩個結構都是正確的。但上面試題的命題者卻把B判為錯誤，這是我無法理解的。而且我的英語老師曾提及一例句：

the table(which) the boy crawled under
男孩在下面爬的那張桌子

答：在形容詞子句中，當關係代名詞which 用法作介係詞的受詞時，從文法上說，既可以把介係詞放在which之前，也可以放在 which之後。但是，把介係詞放在關係代名詞之前（in which, to whom）的結構是正式語體。在上面的試题中之所以不能選B，並不是因為介係詞in放在了which之後，而是因為主詞和動詞的語序不對。如果把had放在主詞she之後，那麽，選B也就是正確的了（但多用於非正式語體）。請比較下列例句：

• The documents for which they were searching have been recovered. 他們在找的檔案已經找到了。
• This is a subject about which we might argue for a long while. 這是一個我們可能要爭論很長時間的問題。
• This is the room(which) Churchill was born in. 這是邱吉爾出生的那間屋子。
• She spent all evening talking about her latest book, which none of us had ever heard of. 她花了整個晚上談她最近的新書，關於這本書，我們沒有一個人聽說過。

但是 TOEFL等出題專家只承認正式語體的用法為正確用法。因此，我們在 TOEFL試題中所能查到的，都是介係詞+ which的用法，而無 which…+介係詞的用法。

Which 用法11（of which / to which）：

問：We are not conscious of the extent of which work provides the psychological satisfaction that can make the difference between a full and an empty life.
對上道題的原有解釋如下：

“B中的 of which應改為‘which’，把of刪去，因為 which後面的 provide在本句中是及物動，可直接接受詞，不需要將介係詞提到 which之前。”

請問上面的解答是否正確？

答：我認為是有人完全誤解了上道英語試题的文法结構和句意。在原句中work… satisfaction是一個形容詞子句，其中work為子句的主詞，satisfaction是動詞 provides的直接受詞。此形容詞子句是限制中心詞the extent的。因此，其關係代名詞 which 用法必須與適當的介係詞搭配，在形容子句中充當副詞。大家知道，當表示“在…程度上”這含義時，一般是使用介係詞to。例如：

• to a certain extent （在一定程度上）
• to a considerable extent （在相當大的程度上）
• To what extent are you willing to help me? 你願意幫助我到什麽樣的程度？

由此可見，上道試題中的B. of which應改 to which。全句的意思是：

我們不知道工作所提供的能把充實的生活與空虚的生活區分開来的心理滿足的程度到底有多大。

Which用法12（…of which）：

問：The Social Security Retirement Program is made up of two trust funds, ______ penniless by next year.
A. the larger one
B. the larger of which
C. the largest one
D. the largest of which
雖然我得知，答案為B. the larger of which。但是，我對於…of which 用法仍不清楚。

答：which引導形容詞子句並在形容詞子句中充當主詞或受詞的用法，是大家所熟悉的。但是，假如 which在形容詞子句中不充當主詞或受詞，而是充當形容詞來表示領屬關係，那怎麼辮呢？這時候就需要使用 of which這個片語。在上面的句子裡，which的先行詞是 two trust funds（兩項信託資金）, of which作 the larger的形容詞。請參考類似的實例：

• the investigation the results of which will soon be published. 不久即將公布其結果的那項調查……
• The house the roof of which was damaged has now been repaired. 屋頂損壞的那所房子現在已修好了。
• There are two left, one of which is almost finished and the other of which is not quite. 剩下兩件事，一件幾乎做完了，另一件還得做。

which 用法13（N + of which/of which + N）：

問：The house the roof of which was damaged has now been repaired. “of which” 能否放在 the roof之前？

答：在形容詞子句中充當形容詞的 of which 用法雖然可以放在它所修飾的名詞之前，但比較少見:

• the investigation of which the results will soon be published. 不久將公布(其)結果的那項調查……
• The house of which the roof was damaged has now been repaired. 屋頂損壞的那棟房子現在已經修好了。