Consider the following sentence:
Certain gram positive bacteria can be associated with oil glands that play a role in acne and skin disease.
I'm wondering what does the word that refer to. Is it 'oil glands' or 'certain gram positive bacteria'?
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Sign up to join this communityConsider the following sentence:
Certain gram positive bacteria can be associated with oil glands that play a role in acne and skin disease.
I'm wondering what does the word that refer to. Is it 'oil glands' or 'certain gram positive bacteria'?
It is 'oil glands'.
The word order makes it quite clear.
[...] the glands that [...]
If it were the other way around the sentence would have to be:
Certain bacteria that play a role in acne and skin disease are associated with oily glands.
"That" here , is a relative pronoun referring to "oil glands". We can use "that"here instead of of the relative pronoun "which"."Certain gram positive bacteria can be associated with oil glands that** play a role in acne and skin disease."
instead of , "Certain gram positive bacteria can be associated with oil glands which play a role in acne and skin disease."