WHICH after COMMA

[geet.k.22]

They have blamed increasing shark attacks on a corresponding rise in the number of migrating whales along Australia's coast, which draws in marine scavengers.

I came across this sentence while going through wall street journal. The link for the same is mentioned below:

http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB1 ... TopStories

My question is: Can which after the comma refer to any thing other than the preceding noun. In this sentence the preceding noun is "coast" but which seems to refer "Rise".

Correct me if i am wrong and kindly explain these kind of construction.

[geet.k.22]

The cull was approved Tuesday by the federal government in Canberra, which granted the state an exemption from laws safeguarding the animals.

Again from the same source. WHICH after the COMMA seems to refer to "Federal Government" rather than the preceding noun "Canberra". Are these kind of constructions possible in GMAT.

Please explain. The source is same as my above post.

[geet.k.22]

I am looking forward to response from any Manhattan's instructors. Ron please respond.

[RonPurewal]

In formal English, of the sort used by GMAC, "which" is restricted to (a) the preceding noun, or (b) the preceding noun + preposition + other noun.

In spoken English, "which" is used almost entirely in the opposite way: it's very rarely used to refer to nouns, and almost always used to describe the preceding action/clause.
Online publications are not usually written as formally as printed publications, and so will aften admit a certain amount of colloquial/spoken-English construction that would be unacceptable in the formal language.

[RonPurewal]

I am looking forward to response from any Manhattan's instructors. Ron please respond.

^^ You wrote this post twenty minutes after your question. That's the most rude and unprofessional thing I've seen on this forum in a long, long time.

Please don't do it again.

[geet.k.22]

Thanks Ron for your response.

I am extremely sorry for my post. I am new to this forum,and i was unaware about the forum rules.

I will not repeat it again.

Regards,

[RonPurewal]

Thanks Ron for your response.

I am extremely sorry for my post. I am new to this forum,and i was unaware about the forum rules.

I will not repeat it again.

Regards,

Apology accepted, although this isn't a matter of forum rules so much as of general courtesy. (Would you e-mail a professional contact, and then e-mail them again 20 minutes later if you hadn't gotten a response yet? I bet not.)

In fact, if you make posts like this, the only effect will be to delay our response.
We answer questions from oldest to newest. If you post again on your own thread, you're just making it the "newest" again.

Thanks.