Error while applying a patch in git

Question

I have a shallow clone, on which i made three commits. Here is the log:

$ git log --oneline --graph --decorate --all
* d3456fd (HEAD, maste

Answer 1

ok. the following worked .

$ git am -3 --ignore-whitespace /c/temp/git/format_since_origin.patch
Applying: patch 1
Applying: patch 2
Applying: patch 3

Why would i need to ignore whitespace while applying?