Inanimate Whose

Last updated Mar 4, 2022 Edit Source

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• 我们可以用Whose指代不是人的动物, 也可以用于非生命的物体(Inanimate Whose¹就是这种情况).

  • 例句: That’s the car whose alarm keeps waking us up at night.

• 如果不想用Whose, 也有以下方法来等价代换:

  • 使用 of which

    • He was watching the movie whose title I couldn’t remember earlier.
    • He was watching the movie, the title of which I couldn’t remember earlier.
    • The car whose windshield is cracked is his.
    • The car, the windshield of which is cracked, is his.

    • 然而这样的句子读起来clumsy or stilted.

  • 也可以避免使用所有格, 比如使用with

    • He was watching the movie with the title that I couldn’t remember earlier.
    • The car with the cracked windshield is his.

• 然而在疑问句里面, 使用Whose指代非生命的物体会带来歧义:

  • “Whose lid is this?”
  • “Which container does this lid belong to?”

• Ref: 这篇文章写的很好: Using ‘Whose’ for Objects and Things | Merriam-Webster