Page 204 - English Grammar in Use

Unit
96 Relative clauses 5: extra information clauses (2)

A preposition + whom/which
You can use a preposition + whom (for people) and which (for things).
So you can say:
to whom with whom about whom etc.
of which without which from which etc.
Mr Lee, to whom I spoke at the meeting, is interested in our proposal.
Fortunately we had a good map, without which we would have got lost.

In spoken English we often keep the preposition after the verb in the relative clause:
Katherine told me she works for a company called ‘Latoma’, which I’d never
heard of before.
We do not use whom when the preposition is in this position:
Mr Lee, who I spoke to at the meeting, is interested in our proposal.
(not Mr Lee, whom I spoke to …)
For prepositions in relative clauses, see also Unit 93C.

B all of / most of etc. + whom/which
You can say:
Helen has three brothers, all of whom are married.
They asked me a lot of questions, most of which I couldn’t answer.
In the same way you can say:
many of whom some of whom neither of whom etc. (for people)
none of which both of which one of which etc. (for things)
Martin tried on three jackets, none of which fitted him.
Two men, neither of whom I had seen before, came into the office.
They have three cars, two of which they rarely use.
Sue has a lot of friends, many of whom she was at school with.
You can also say:
the cause of which the name of which etc.
The house was damaged in a fire, the cause of which was never established.
We stayed at a beautiful hotel, the name of which I don’t remember now.

C which (not what)
Study this example:

Joe got the job . This surprised everybody. (2 sentences)

Joe got the job , which surprised everybody. (1 sentence)
relative clause

In this example, which = ‘the fact that Joe got the job’. We use which (not what) in sentences
like these:
Sarah couldn’t meet us, which was a shame. (not what was a shame)
The weather was good, which we hadn’t expected. (not what we hadn’t expected)
For what and that, see Units 92D and 93D.

192 all of / most of etc. ➜ Unit 88 both of etc. ➜ Unit 89 Relative clauses 1–4 ➜ Units 92–95