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§6.9. Which and who

A description can not only talk about things in terms of themselves, but also in terms of their relationships to the rest of the world. For instance,

an open container on the table
a woman inside a lighted room
an animal carried by a man
a woman taller than Mark
something worn by somebody

are all valid descriptions. These are really abbreviations, having missed out the words "which is" or "who is", as appropriate:

an open container which is on the table
a woman who is inside a lighted room
an animal which is carried by a man
a woman who is taller than Mark
something which is worn by somebody

and indeed those are also valid descriptions. The other sentence verbs can all be used here, too. So for instance:

a man who does not wear anything
something which supports something

And sometimes we should spell out "who is" regardless:

a man who is not Sherlock Holmes

Since these clauses can be attached to the end of any valid description, descriptions can grow longer still:

something worn by a woman who is in a dark room

Pedants who flinch when "which" is used to introduce a restrictive clause are welcome to use "that" instead.


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**ExampleVersailles
A mirror which will reflect some random object in the room.