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Here is a sentence from the Examination:

The science medicine, which progress has been rapid lately, is perhaps the most important of all sciences.

As I know, which clause can still + Object, so it's very nearly with of which. In that sentence (find an error), the answer: Which is wrong but no has answer (I think is of which?). But I'm disturbed so much. Please help me to classify them, thanks.

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    I think you probably want in which. "Progress has been very rapid in medicine lately."
    – StoneyB on hiatus
    Jul 1, 2016 at 13:07
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    in which doesn't mean when. Which replaces science medecide. Perhaps you meant where or something?
    – Archa
    Jul 1, 2016 at 13:16
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    This is an instance of "pied piping"; click here for questions about this.
    – StoneyB on hiatus
    Jul 1, 2016 at 13:20
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    If this was from an "examination", I suggest whoever set the test wasn't a native speaker. The subject of the sentence would almost always be The science of medicine (and to continue, my choice would be ... within which progress has been rapid of late).
    – FumbleFingers
    Jul 1, 2016 at 13:45
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    @StoneyB of which is the correct one - "The science medicine, of which progress has been rapid lately, is perhaps the most important of all sciences."
    – Man_From_India
    Jul 1, 2016 at 14:00

1 Answer 1

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The science of 'medicine' is the subject there and the use of commas at the beginning and end of the sentence talks about the type of the sentence which is known as a non-relative clause. This means the string between those two commas is merely for additional information removing which the sentence can stand all alone.

New York city, which is a very good place to visit, saw a great fall in tourism last year.

[mark two commas]

The science medicine, which progress has been rapid lately, is perhaps the most important of all sciences.

Here, the pronoun 'which' lacks in introducing the noun properly. 'Whose progress'? 'Progress in which field...?'

Adding a preposition or changing the pronoun work.

The science medicine, of which (the) progress has been rapid lately, is perhaps the most important of all sciences.

OR

The science medicine, whose progress has been rapid lately, is perhaps the most important of all sciences.

['whose' can be used for inanimate objects as well].

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  • I would suggest "in" as the preposition, rather than "of" — "progress in some field" is a common expression, and then you don't need the (the).
    – mattdm
    Aug 28, 2016 at 14:57

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