Breakdown of La editorial engañó al lector, lo cual es inaceptable.
ser
to be
lo
the ... thing (neuter article)
inaceptable
unacceptable
engañar
to deceive / to trick
el cual
which / who (masculine singular)
el lector
the reader
la editorial
the publisher / publishing house
a
personal 'a' (marks a human direct object)
Questions & Answers about La editorial engañó al lector, lo cual es inaceptable.
Why do we use lo cual here instead of just que?
If you used just que, it would refer to the noun immediately before it, which would mean the reader is unacceptable! To refer to the entire preceding situation (the fact that the publisher deceived the reader), you need a neuter relative pronoun like lo cual or lo que.
Could we use lo que instead of lo cual in this sentence?
Is editorial a false friend? I thought it meant an opinion piece in a newspaper.
It can mean both, depending on its gender! When it is a feminine noun, like la editorial in this sentence, it means the publishing house or the publisher. When it is a masculine noun, el editorial, it means an opinion article.
Why is it al lector and not just el lector?
The word al is a mandatory contraction of the preposition a and the article el. The a here is the 'personal a', which is required because the direct object of the verb engañó is a person (the reader). Even if the reader's exact identity is general or unknown, they are still human, so the rule applies.
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