Learn English – “In countries where X” or “In countries which X”

ieltsrelative-pronouns

I am preparing for IELTS using the following book, "CAMBRIDGE Action Plan for IELTS". On page 75 of the text, there is a sentence

"In countries where water seems to be readily available, people may, at first, be reluctant to reduce their water consumption".

My question is why the relative pronoun where, not which is used in the sentence.

I thought the relative pronoun should be which because in the sentence there is "in" at the beginning of it and, as far as I know, the relative pronoun where is equal to in/at/on which.

Best Answer

There are in effect two ins in this sentence.

The first in tells where people are reluctant:

In countries ...

The second in tells which countries:

... countries in which water seems to be readily available ...

Put them together and you get

In countries in which water seems to be readily available ...

But where can substitute for a locative preposition phrase like in which:

In countries where water seems to be readily available ...

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