Relative pronoun -'for that'
If I was to say he bought me a house, for which/for that I will be forever grateful
would I use por cual or de queoe even lo cual/lo que
me compró una casa___|_ estaré agradicido para siempre
16 Answers
James Santiago said:
Harry wrote: But am I not being grateful for the act of the buying represented by 'for which' rather than to the person['] I see what you're saying, but to me it sounds much better in Spanish with the pronoun. Maybe someone else can give the analysis.
James, the Spanish sentence sounds better to me , too, with the indirect-object pronoun, "le." F i n a l l y, I am pleased to notice, which only means that finally I am close to having read and heard enough Spanish to begin to have a feel for the language.
The analysis is that correct Spanish is full of redundancies, especially redundant indirect object pronouns (to him, to her, to it), plus double and sometimes triple negatives. And all really do sound lovely in fluent Spanish.
But proper English uses redundancies only for special emphasis or in taking poetic license so it takes some time getting used to.
I've been consoling myself that native Spanish speakers learning English must feel at first like they're breaking their heads learning the inverse adjustments.
Harry wrote:
But am I not being grateful for the act of the buying represented by 'for which' rather than to the person[']
I see what you're saying, but to me it sounds much better in Spanish with the pronoun. Maybe someone else can give the analysis.
Lazarus wrote:
If the stop is part of the quote, inside, but if it is the end of a sentence, outside. Admiration and exclamation marks are inside.
What is an admiration mark? And are you saying that exclamation marks go inside the quotation mark even if not a part of the quotation? In the following sentence,
¡Me quedé atónito al oírle decir "No hay más"!
the exclamation mark is part of the main sentence, not the quotation. This is different from the following.
Me quedé atónito al oírle decir "¡No hay más!"
Are you saying that the second sentence is incorrectly punctuated'
I've always thought the American custom was silly and, since I finished my formal education, I've always done it on the basis of whether the punctuation was part of the quotation or not. That (to my mind, at least) has some logic to it.
I understand what you are saying, but here is the problem. The style manuals all agree with what I have said above, so if you violate the American rule you risk appearing uneducated, even if you are doing it intentionally. I agree that the British custom is more logical in this case, but until we get an American equivalent of the RAE or AF, and they decide to change over to the British custom, we will have to follow the style manuals if we want to write according to conventional rules.
James, I was talking about Spanish orthography, not English.
Anyway, I'd say:
Mi madre me compró una casa por la cual (le) estoy muy agradecido,...
James Santiago said:
Lazarus, what you said about quotation marks only applies in the UK, where you live. We have a different rule over here (although many Americans seem to be unaware of it).
I've always thought the American custom was silly and, since I finished my formal education, I've always done it on the basis of whether the punctuation was part of the quotation or not. That (to my mind, at least) has some logic to it.
James Santiago said:
Harry said:
just noticed the le included after - why?
Because it refers to the person who bought the house for you. "I will be grateful to him/her..."And while I hesitate to go against a native speaker, I think "por lo cual" here is even better than "por lo que," although I think both are perfectly acceptable.Any other opinions?
But am I not being grateful for the act of the buying represented by 'for which' rather than to the person
lazarus1907 said:
I don't quite understand the original sentence in English. It seems to be incomplete: If was to say this or that, for which bla bla, then.... (missing part).Depending on what exactly it says, I'd go for "así que", "por lo cual", or "por lo que", "por la que", or something else.
Sally said:
By the way, does the punctuation in a quote come before or after the the quotation mark?
If the stop is part of the quote, inside, but if it is the end of a sentence, outside. Admiration and exclamation marks are inside.
Possibly incomplete as you would add to it's end My mother bought me a house for which I will be forever grateful and/but I hope to pay her back....
I don't quite understand the original sentence in English.
It wasn't well written.
If I was were to say, "He bought me a house, for which/for that I will be forever grateful," would I use...
Lazarus, what you said about quotation marks only applies in the UK, where you live. We have a different rule over here (although many Americans seem to be unaware of it).
I don't quite understand the original sentence in English. It seems to be incomplete: If was to say this or that, for which bla bla, then.... (missing part).
Depending on what exactly it says, I'd go for "así que", "por lo cual", or "por lo que", "por la que", or something else.
Sally said:
By the way, does the punctuation in a quote come before or after the the quotation mark?
If the stop is part of the quote, inside, but if it is the end of a sentence, outside. Admiration and exclamation marks are inside.
By the way, does the punctuation in a quote come before or after the the quotation mark'
Are you asking about English or Spanish? If the former, it depends. In the UK and its affiliates, the period (full stop) or comma comes after the closing quotation mark, but in the US it goes on the inside. This was decided by American typographers back in the days of movable type. The taller marks (? ! ; 
go outside the quotation mark in all countries, unless they are a part of the actual quotation.
If the latter, I'll let someone else answer.
I agree with James. My first thought was, "por lo cual."
By the way, does the punctuation in a quote come before or after the the quotation mark'
Harry said:
just noticed the le included after - why?
Because it refers to the person who bought the house for you. "I will be grateful to him/her..."
And while I hesitate to go against a native speaker, I think "por lo cual" here is even better than "por lo que," although I think both are perfectly acceptable.
Any other opinions'
Heidita said:
it should be:Me compró una casa por lo que le estoy / le estaré agradecido para siempre.
I thought about whether it shoulkd be estoy or estaré and thought I should use the future but now realise it is a present case really and sounds better estoy
You spotted the firat typo (mental) but ta heidita just noticed the le included after - why'
