What does "which" refer to if there are two subjects?

Question

Alaska is one of the states of America which is located on the border side.

Alaska is one of the states of America which is a superpower country.

In the first sentence "which" refers to Alaska.

In the second sentence "which" refers to America.

Which sentence is wrong?

#2 also refers to Alaska without a comma after America – Cass Lopez Jun 30 '21 at 15:48 — Cass Lopez, Jun 30 '21 at 15:48

score 0 · Accepted Answer · answered Jun 30 '21 at 13:35

This is where the distinction between restrictive and nonrestrictive clauses comes into picture.

The proper way to write 1) is:

Alaska is one of the states of America which/that is located on the border side.

Note the absence of comma above: the restrictive relative clause which/that is located on the border side is essential, because it provides necessary information about Alaska.

Likewise, 2) should be written as:

Alaska is one of the states of America, which is a superpower country.

Here you need a comma after America, and the following nonrestrictive relative clause which is a superpower merely adds extra information about America. You could do away with this parenthetical part. Note also that in this case you must only use which.

Please check for readily predictable duplicates before answering. — Edwin Ashworth, Jun 30 '21 at 13:41

What does "which" refer to if there are two subjects?

1 Answers1