sentence confirmation#1

[acckkm]

I rode on a very long escalator, which was over two thousands feet.

I went to a horse race track, which was in the heart of Hong Kong.

Are they correct?

Thank you

[oishii]

I rode on a very long escalator, which was over two thousands feet.

I went to a horse race track, which was in the heart of Hong Kong.

Are they correct?

Thank you


Hi acckkm,

I would probably not use a comma in these sentences.
Why? Because the clauses set off by 'which' in these cases seem essential to the meaning of the sentences, otherwise, I would have opted to use a comma to set them apart.

However, please note...


Generally, we use "which" to introduce clauses that are parenthetical in nature (i.e., that can be removed from the sentence without changing the essential meaning of the sentence). For that reason, a "which clause" is often set off with a comma or a pair of commas. "That clauses," on the other hand, are usually deemed indispensable for the meaning of a sentence and are not set off with commas.


The only other modification I would make would be to add a word to indicate the kind of measurement that the two thousand feet refers to in the first sentence.

It is customary to indicate the type of measurement that you reference with numbers.. such as..

The tree was 3 meters tall
The track was 300 meters long.

Perhaps you meant...

I rode on a very long escalator which was over two thousands feet in length.

or...

I rode on a very long escalator which goes up over two thousands feet .

or...

I rode on a very long escalator which goes over two thousands feet high.

or maybe...

I rode on a very long escalator which was over two thousands feet high.

This last option seems a little ambiguous to me because one cannot be sure if the escalator started at a level two thousand feet in the air, or if it rose to a level that was that high.





.

[Mister Micawber]

.
I rode on a very long escalator, which was over two thousand feet long.

Otherwise, as Oishii suggests, it depends on the context as to whether the information in the dependent clause is restrictive or nonrestrictive. Either is possible. If restrictive, I would further edit the sentences to read:

I rode on a very long escalator over two thousand feet long.
I went to a horse race track in the heart of Hong Kong.
.