"that which‘’ vs what

aeoluseros

个人观点，欢迎讨论

一直以来都有一个“共识”：that which = what，而that which的wordy and awkward使之必须为what所取代。但是这个说法并不准确，what只是sometimes可以代替that which。

大全的题目都遵循用what替代that which的规则：
182. Bringing the Ford Motor Company back from the verge of bankruptcy shortly after the Second World War was a special governmentally sanctioned price increase during a period of wage and price controls.
(A) Bringing the Ford Motor Company back from the verge of bankruptcy shortly after the Second World War was a special governmentally sanctioned price increase during a period of wage and price controls.
(B) What brought the Ford Motor Company back from the verge of bankruptcy shortly after the Second World War was a special price increase that the government sanctioned during a period of wage and price controls.
(C) That which brought the ford Motor Company back from the verge of bankruptcy shortly after the Second World War was a special governmentally sanctioned price increase during a period of wage and price controls.
(D) What has brought the Ford Motor Company back from the verge of bankruptcy shortly after the Second World War was a special price increase that the government sanctioned during a period of wages and price controls.
(E) To bring the Ford Motor Company back from the verge of bankruptcy shortly after the Second World War, there was a special price increase during a period of wages and price controls that government sanctioned.
Key: B
316. Frances Wright’s book on America contrasted the republicanism of the United States with what she saw as the aristocratic and corrupt institutions of England.
(A) with what she saw as
(B) with that which she saw to be
(C) to that she saw being
(D) and that which she saw as
(E) and what she saw to be
Key: A
803. The period when the great painted caves at Lascaux and Altamira were occupied by Upper Paleolithic people has been established by carbon-14 dating, but what is much more difficult to determine are the reason for their decoration, the use to which primitive people put the caves, and the meaning of the magnificently depicted animals.
(A) has been established by carbon-14 dating, but what is much more difficult to determine are
(B) has been established by carbon-14 dating, but what is much more difficult to determine is
(C) have been established by carbon-14 dating, but what is much more difficult to determine is
(D) have been established by carbon-14 dating, but what is much more difficult to determine are
(E) are established by carbon-14 dating, but that which is much more difficult to determine is
Key: B
还有几题不继续贴出。

可以发现共识基本成立，但是再看这个句子：
Since the consumer considers the best fruit to be that which is the most attractive, the grower must provide products that satisfy the discerning eye. (from internet)
仔细思考能否用what来替代that which会发现，如果用了what，句子会显得很奇怪：只要是最有吸引力的东西就是最好的水果。所以这里用that which反而是合适的。（这个句子中还使用了consider A to be that，但是因为that是指代A的，所以to be的补出也合理，不能用GMAT的“死规则”consider A B，直接判错）

继续参考大量例句后我认为what用于指代抽象概念，that which用于指代具体的或抽象的事物，当指代抽象事物时，需要被what替代，而当指代具体事物时，就应该用that which。对于是否指代"具体事物"，一个好的验证方法就是用the one that代替that which，如果句意合理，that which就是对的。

简言之：当指抽象事物就用what，当指代前面出现过的具体事物，就用that which。

举两个句子以说明：
I don't know what you're talking about.
I've read some of his books, but not that which you're talking about.
第一个句子中what不能你被that which代替，因为what you're talking about是一个抽象概念。
第二个句子中用the one that代替that which，发现可以成立，所以应该用that which。

viviansecret

请问楼主最后那几道不是大全里面的句子是否同样是gmat真题？因为gmat以外的句子未必符合gmat语法规则，gmat语法相对更严格精确。按照gmat语法规则不应该有that which这样的用法啊？请多指教！

aeoluseros

hmm..最后那几个不是GMAT的真题，只是其他地方的一些句子，可惜SC里面没有好的例子。
你说得对，其他地方的语法规则不一定适用于GMAT，但是不适用的原因是因为有些日常语法规则相比GMAT语法“不够简洁、意思不够单一精准且明确”，并不是GMAT的SC里面总是那样改，规则就是那样子的，比如总是把that which改为what，that which就不能用，这个规则是前辈们早期总结于见题拆题，只是题目里面那样子，所以不能代表that which就一定要用what代替。寻求本质才是正道。umm...而且我的感觉是了解很多本质以后，GMAT里面其实不需要记语法点，固定搭配除外（不过现在真题已经不怎么钻固定搭配的牛角尖了，总是能从别的角度解题，虽然固定搭配能够加速判断）。

anyway，另外在GMAT的RC里面搜到了一些用that which的句子，可以发现这些地方用你what并不合适：
1. It can be inferred from the passage that by describing the Weddell seal as preparing “for the worst” (line 41), biologists mean that it exhibits physiological behavior similar to that which characterizes dives in which it heads directly for its prey.
2. He noted that the wavelengths of the radiation emitted by a gas would changes as the gas cooled, so that as the gas flowed into the galaxy and became cooler, it would emit not x-rays, but visible light, like that which was captured in the photographs.
3. by seating and panting only when their body temperature exceeds that which would kill a human, they conserve internal water.
4. Our visual perception depends on the reception of energy reflecting or radiating from that which we wish to perceive.
5. They decrease the likelihood that employers will offer more protection to women workers than that which is absolutely required by law.

李子木

个人一些小想法：

lz提出的what和that which并不是所有可以替代的问题，分析之透彻，赞一个（话说。。。我语法烂到某种境界了。。。）

窃以为G中这属于effectiveness的错误，应当是没有定则的，也就是说，个人感觉，即使选项中使用的是that which，也不能简单排除

LZ提醒了。。。