THAT vs. WHICH
G'day folks,
Here are two more of those words that often cause us grief.
To understand when to use that vs. which, it’s important
to keep in mind the difference between and restrictive and non restrictive
clauses. In formal American English, that is used in restrictive
clauses, and which in used in non restrictive clauses.
A restrictive clause contains information that limits the meaning of the
thing being talked about. For example, in the sentence “Any book that you like
must be good,” the relative clause “that you like” is restrictive becau
se it
identifies specifically a book that you like. Note that in restrictive clauses,
sometimes that can be omitted. “Any book you like must be good” is
also often used, especially in informal settings.
A non restrictive clause, on the other hand, is used to supply additional
information that is not essential to understanding the main point of the
sentence. Consider the example “The book, which I found at a dusty used
bookstore, was a real page-turner.” The relative clause “which I found at a
dusty used bookstore” is non restrictive because it adds extra information,
almost like an aside. You could delete the details about the bookstore, and the
sentence would still make sense. In this example, which is preceded by
a comma; non restrictive clauses tend to follow punctuation like a comma, a
dash, or parenthesis. Which is only used in restrictive clauses if
it’s preceded by a preposition.
Luckily there’s an easy way to remember whether to use that or which. If the
relative clause contains information that is not essential to the meaning of
the sentence, and is also preceded by a comma, a dash, or parenthesis, it’s
probably non restrictive, so use which. If not, odds are it’s
restrictive, so use that.
However, the above distinction is a rule of formal American English, and is
not as strictly observed in British English or in informal English of any type.
Clancy's comment:
Mm ... American English?
I'm ...
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