WHICH

Etymology

Determiner

which

(interrogative) What, of those mentioned or implied.

(relative) The one or ones mentioned.

Pronoun

which

(interrogative) What one or ones (of those mentioned or implied).

(relative) Who; whom; what (of those mentioned or implied).

(relative, archaic) Used of people (now generally who, whom or that).

Usage notes

• (US usage) Some authorities insist that relative which be used only in non-restrictive clauses. For restrictive clauses (e.g, The song that you just mentioned is better than the later ones), they prefer that. But Fowler, who proposed the rule, himself acknowledged that it was "not the practice of most or of the best writers". Even E. B. White, a notorious "which-hunter", wrote this: "the premature expiration of a pig is, I soon discovered, a departure which the community marks solemnly on its calendar." In modern UK usage, The song which you just mentioned is better than the later ones is generally accepted without question.

• As a relative pronoun, which (not that) is used when the relative clause is non-restrictive (e.g, "I saw Tom's car, which was parked outside his house") or when it is the object of a preposition placed in front of the pronoun (e.g, "These are the things about which we shall talk", "There were many fish, the biggest of which...").

• When which (or the other relative pronouns who and that) is used as the subject of a relative clause, the verb agrees with the antecedent of the pronoun. Thus, "the thing which is...", "the things which are...", etc.

• Which is commonly used, sometimes with partitive of, instead of who (the ordinary interrogative pronoun, in the nominative singular or plural) to refer to a person or persons, and corresponding to what of things. Compare "which of us always uses who for people" and "who among us has never used which for a person". Neither "who of us" nor "which among us" is idiomatic.

Noun

which (plural whiches)

An occurrence of the word which.

Source: Wiktionary

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Which, pron. Etym: [OE. which, whilk, AS. hwilc, hwylc, hwelc, from the root of hwa who + lic body; hence properly, of what sort or kind; akin to OS. hwilik which, OFries. hwelik, D. welk, G. welch, OHG. welih, hwelih, Icel. hvilikr, Dan. & Sw. hvilken, Goth. hwileiks, hwleiks; cf. L. qualis. Who, and Like, a., and cf. Such.]

1. Of what sort or kind; what; what a; who. [Obs.] And which they weren and of what degree. Chaucer.

2. A interrogative pronoun, used both substantively and adjectively, and in direct and indirect questions, to ask for, or refer to, an individual person or thing among several of a class; as, which man is it which woman was it which is the house he asked which route he should take; which is best, to live or to die See the Note under What, pron., 1. Which of you convinceth me of sin John viii. 46.

3. A relative pronoun, used esp. in referring to an antecedent noun or clause, but sometimes with reference to what is specified or implied in a sentence, or to a following noun or clause (generally involving a reference, however, to something which has preceded). It is used in all numbers and genders, and was formerly used of persons. And when thou fail'st -- as God forbid the hour! --Must Edward fall, which peril heaven forfend! Shak. God . . . rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made. Gen. ii. 2. Our Father, which art in heaven. Matt. vi. 9. The temple of God is holy, which temple ye are. 1 Cor. iii. 17.

4. A compound relative or indefinite pronoun, standing for any one which, whichever, that which, those which, the . . . which, and the like; as, take which you will.

Note: The which was formerly often used for which. The expressions which that, which as, were also sometimes used by way of emphasis. Do not they blaspheme that worthy name by the which ye are called James ii. 7.

Note: Which, referring to a series of preceding sentences, or members of a sentence, may have all joined to it adjectively. "All which, as a method of a proclamation, is very convenient." Carlyle.

Source: Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary 1913 Edition

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