一道prep题目,感觉讨论中没涉及到这个疑点! 请各位童鞋帮帮忙

zxtcomeo

For the first time in the modern era, non-Hispanic Whites are officially a minority in
California, which amounts to a little less than half the population of the state, down from
nearly three-quarters only a decade ago.

A. which amounts to a little less than half the population of the state, down from
nearly three-quarters only a decade ago
B. which amounts to a little less than half the population of the state, down from a
decade ago, when it was nearly three-quarters
C. and that amounts to a little less than half the population of the state, down from a
decade ago, when they were nearly three-quarters
D. amounting to a little less than half the population of the state, down from nearly
three-quarters a decade ago
E. amounting to a little less than half the population of the state, down from what it
was a decade ago by nearly three-quarters
想问a选项中的which能否指代a minority ,如果可以感觉a选项也正确.

judydongxueni

可以啊，为什么不能呢？

zxtcomeo

如果对的话,a也是正确答案呀!能不能给解释下a选项为什么错.此题正确答案是d

winny莹

这道题可能要从逻辑上来分析吧，我觉得这里amounts是伴随状态，应该以ing形式出现做non-Hispanic Whites are officially a minority 的伴随状语。

所以我马上把自己的选择缩小到DE间。

which是可以修饰minority，但是应该不是minority amounts to a little less than half the population ，应该是non-Hispanic Whites ，他们在形成minority的同时amounts to a little less than half the population 。

winny莹

再举个例子吧，
OG114
From the bark of the paper birth tree the Menomini crafted a canoe about twenty feet long and two feer wide, with small ribs and rails of cedar, which could carry four persons or eight hundred pounds of baggage yet was so light that a person could easily portage it around impending rapids.

虽然这道题的考点不是这个知识点，而且这是个非限定性定语从句，但是which隔了这么长的介宾结构依然是指代canoe，因为could carry 这个动作就是canoe发出来的。

在熏衣紫草的经验贴上得到的启示！！

winny莹

所以，要从逻辑上来分析，代词指代的问题，而不是光靠字面上的经验

zxtcomeo

看来逻辑分析,选择最合适的,不能死扣语法点呀!谢谢

aeoluseros

umm...其实我感觉which不能修饰a minority...
因为加州的minority很多，不一定都是那样子的。