Rocio Soledad Gonzalez * L.W.E III * Blas Bigatti * I.S.F.D N° 30
WHICH
OR THAT?
Which and that can be used in different
constructions. The confusion usually arises when they are being used as
relative pronouns to introduce adjectival (or relative) clauses. Remember that
a clause is simply a group of words containing a subject and a verb.
In order not to make mistakes, always
have in mind that which clauses are usually used non-restrictively (non-essential), while that clauses are usually restrictive (essential). Notice the
following examples. 1. Our house (that has a red door and green shutter) needs painting.
2. Our house, (which has a red door and green shutters), needs painting.. 3. The classrooms (that were painted over the summer) are bright and cheerful.
4. The classrooms, (which were painted over the summer), are bright and cheerful.
2. Our house, (which has a red door and green shutters), needs painting.. 3. The classrooms (that were painted over the summer) are bright and cheerful.
4. The classrooms, (which were painted over the summer), are bright and cheerful.
Sentences one and
three are restrictive clauses. Here we are adding information about the noun
because we want to talk about something that we have. But, as we have many we
use the restrictive clause in order to differentiate it from the rest. That is
to say, we are talking about a particular thing, and not other. However,
sentence two and four are what we call non-restrictive clauses. Here we add
extra information or non-essential. So, if we leave out the information in that
adjectival clause, the sentence would make sense anyway.
To sum up, Non-restrictive clauses are separated from the rest of a sentence
by a pair of commas or by a single comma if they come at the end. .Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary
(10th edition) tells us that “…it
is now common for which to be used with either kind of
clause, while that must be used only for restrictive
clauses.”
Thanks for sharing this information Rocío!
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