Author Topic: Which of the two setences below is the correct usage correct usage?  (Read 2515 times)

Spreen

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Which of the two setences a correct usage, "Which kind of dog that doesn't bite?," "Which kind of dog doesn't bite?."

« Last Edit: August 14, 2009, 10:44:48 AM by Reagan »

Joe Carillo

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Re: Which of the two sentences below is the correct usage?
« Reply #1 on: August 14, 2009, 10:06:22 AM »
Which of the two sentences is the correct usage, "Which kind of dog that doesn't bite?," "Which kind of dog doesn't bite?."



The second sentence is the correct usage: “Which kind of dog doesn’t bite?” This is because it is a complete interrogative sentence that has a proper subject, the noun phrase “which kind of dog,” and an operative verb phrase, “doesn’t bite.”

On the other hand, the first sentence, “Which kind of dog that doesn’t bite?”, is not a complete sentence. It was designed to be a complex sentence but it really isn’t because of its defective construction. This is because its supposed main clause, “which kind of dog,” isn’t really a clause because it has no operative verb at all. For this reason, the second dependent clause, “that doesn’t bite,” doesn’t have a proper main clause to latch itself to or to depend on. The entire sentence is thus what’s called in grammar as a fragment—a statement that doesn’t yield a complete thought.

Other than dropping the relative pronoun “that” from that first sentence (which will reduce it to the correct form of the second sentence), it can also be fixed by supplying an operative verb to the supposed main clause. The verb “is” can do that job very well, as in this reconstruction of that first sentence: “Which is the kind of dog that doesn’t bite?” (Of course, we also have to put the obligatory article “the” before the noun “kind” to make the sentence work properly.)