The use of "Which"

@Tony C posted:

I was just wondering in the following example whether it is necessary to use which. [...]

e.g. In support of your contention that you acquired units in the ABC unit trust, you provided the following documents:

a) Swiss bank history report which shows on 1 January 2020, you withdrew an amount of $100K to acquire the units in the said trust.

Hello, Tony C—In that sentence, "which shows" marks the beginning of a relative clause in which "which," a relative pronoun, functions as subject. When a relative pronoun functions as the subject of a relative clause, it cannot be omitted. You may, however, if you like, delete "which" and replace it with "that."

There are a few problems with (a). First, since "report" is a count noun, you should use "a" at the beginning: "a Swiss bank history report." Second, you can delete "an amount of." Third, you should introduce the "that"-clause after "shows" with "that" or move "on 1 January 2020" so that it comes after "$100K."

a1) a Swiss bank history report which shows that, on 1 January 2020, you withdrew $100K to acquire the units in the said trust

a2) a Swiss bank history report which shows you withdrew $100K on 1 January 2020 to acquire the units of the said trust

a3) a Swiss bank history report showing you withdrew $100K on 1 January 2020 to acquire the units of the said trust

Option (a3), in which "which shows" is replaced by "showing," shows that you can use a reduced relative clause instead instead of the finite relative clause. Please note I've deleted the period at the end and not capitalized the first word. That is because (a), (a1), (a2), and (a3) are not sentences. They're noun phrases.

Thanks David, it's 100% crystal clear to me now, much appreciated.

Just on another note, can I use article "the" instead for the swish bank history report?

a1) the Swiss bank history report which shows that, on 1 January 2020, you withdrew $100K to acquire the units in the said trust

a2) the Swiss bank history report which shows you withdrew $100K on 1 January 2020 to acquire the units of the said trust

a3) the Swiss bank history report showing you withdrew $100K on 1 January 2020 to acquire the units of the said trust

@Tony C posted:

Can I use article "the" instead for the swish bank history report?

a1) the Swiss bank history report which shows that, on 1 January 2020, you withdrew $100K to acquire the units in the said trust

a2) the Swiss bank history report which shows you withdrew $100K on 1 January 2020 to acquire the units of the said trust

a3) the Swiss bank history report showing you withdrew $100K on 1 January 2020 to acquire the units of the said trust

Hi, Tony,

The article would be grammatically correct. However, with lists of items we generally don't use articles:

In support of your contention that you acquired units in the ABC unit trust, you provided the following documents:

- Swiss bank history report ...

- Tax return ...

- Sworn statement ...

Thanks Gustavo!

@Gustavo, Co-Moderator posted:

The article would be grammatically correct. However, with lists of items we generally don't use articles:

In support of your contention that you acquired units in the ABC unit trust, you provided the following documents:

- Swiss bank history report ...

- Tax return ...

- Sworn statement ...

I agree with Gustavo that the article can be left out in this type of list of noun phrases, where the items are listed on separate lines. If the list appears as a series in the sentence, however, articles will be needed. That is, even corporate accountants cannot say that they provided report, return, and statement.

Hello David and Gustavo,

Thank you but if I wanted to use article in the above list, is it wrong? which one is better?

@Tony C posted:

. . . if I wanted to use article in the above list, is it wrong? which one is better?

Hello, Tony—It is not wrong to use the article from a grammatical standpoint. Indeed, it is quite natural and correct from a grammatical standpoint to use the article there. However, as Gustavo observes, articles are often omitted in such lists; so this is really a stylistic matter.

You should examine already published reports of the type you are writing and see whether articles are used at the beginning of such lines. Alternatively, you could ask the people for whom you are writing (the company, not its clients) what stylistic preference they have in this circumstance. Then be consistent.