从英汉思维比较的角度理解定语从句

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下面句子选自高中生的英语作业:
At the class meeting,the teacher praised some students,half of them were girls.
班会上老师表扬了一些学生,其中一半是女生。
这个句子显然不符合英语的表达习惯,应改为:
At the class meeting,the teacher praised some students,half of whom were girls.
那么,有同学问:为什么要把halfofthem改成half of whom?
一般可以这样解释:这里是halfofwhom引导的非限制性定语从句,students是先行词,whom是关系代词,指代前面somestudents,halfof是介词短语放置在whom前。(剩余3051字)