Is "of which" a proper way to begin a relative clause? [closed]
Germany is subdivided into 16 (federal) states, of which Bavaria is the largest.
The thing is that my dictionary is not perfectly clear about this, i.e. there is no direct translation available. Actually the direct translation according to the dictionary would be:
Germany is subdivided into 16 (federal) states, of these Bavaria is the largest.
However, this does not seem correct. Therefore, my questions are:
- Is the first sentence proper English?
- Are there better ways to phrase this sentence?
Solution 1:
Germany is subdivided into 16 federal states, of which Bavaria is the largest.
This sentence is perfectly correct, but the other sentence,
Germany is subdivided into 16 federal states, of these Bavaria is the largest.
is unfortunately not correct, because what you are doing there is using the comma to join two sentences which cannot be joined as they are.
Of which therefore is a proper way to start a sentence. There are similar examples, like:
At what time do we meet?
About what did you talk last night?
To whom were you giving the lecture?
We are used to ending the sentences with a preposition, but they can also begin with the preposition, so yes, your sentence is perfectly grammatical.
Solution 2:
Ok-the previous answerer correctly noted that the first version is a correct sentence (with a relative clause) and the second one isn't (with the comma splice).
(However, the expression "of which" is not starting a sentence here. Rather, it is starting a relative clause, which is perfectly acceptable. "Of which Bavaria is the largest" is not a complete sentence.)
Now, to your second question: "Are there better ways to phrase this sentence?" In this case, "better" may be a matter of style. With that said, here is another option:
"Germany is subdivided into 16 (federal) states, Bavaria being the largest."
What do we learn from this? A dictionary translation isn't always right.