I’ve read various sentences in which ‘that which’ is used together.
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2The sentence doesn't appear to make any sense. Where did you get this from? That which can, and do, appear together in writing, but it's not one of those cases. Also what's decimating the way...? – user405662 Jan 07 '22 at 07:25
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1It looks to me as though the author intended to substitute one word for the other but forgot to delete the rejected one. That which normally means the one which or that thing which, but it doesn't make sense here. – Kate Bunting Jan 07 '22 at 09:07
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1Clearly it's a mistake, though it's hard to tell because the prose is so turgid. – John Lawler Jan 07 '22 at 17:07
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Cf. Ivan Albright's painting titled That Which I Should Have Done I Did Not Do. – Robusto Jan 07 '22 at 18:31
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This question may also work well on [ELL.se] – Mitch Jan 07 '22 at 18:49
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I’m voting to close this question because "I found it somewhere on the internet" is not very helpful. Please don't waste people's time with nonsense quotes taken from who knows where. – aparente001 Jan 08 '22 at 05:19
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This is a duplicate: "that which" used together – Laurel Jan 08 '22 at 15:48
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Some prose is bad but that which I read in this question and your additional comment is simply awful. The prose is not a model for anyone's style. Grammar is wrong, concepts are vague, clauses are pretentious and almost meaningless. Do you have a better example of the use of "that which"? That which you give us is grammatically incorrect because it does not refer to a defined antecedent.
"That which" appears to function as a sort of demonstrative noun phrase.
There are many occurrences in a ngram search. Here is a typical example:
Google Books: W M Kaufmann: "That Which Flows as One: a Struggle to Love"
"A father is not the bedrock that crushes his children, but rather that which supports them; upon which they stand firm and strive to realize their own spirits."
The point about antecedents is emphasised in:
The phrase that which often could be shortened to one-word equivalent pronouns such as what and whatever. The main exception is when that which refers to an antecedent.
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