When which or that

On the other hand, use which with non-restrictive or non-defining clauses. These are clauses providing additional information about something that has already been identified in the context. In this use, which is always preceded by a comma and a comma is placed after the restrictive clause ends if the sentence continues. When the clause is at the end of the sentence, only one comma is used, before which :. In this case, the clause which is hard to follow is descriptive, not restrictive i.

For these cases, which sounds more natural than that. Some grammarians extend the rule and insist on that being used only in restrictive clauses, while which should be used only in nonrestrictive clauses.

The use of which with restrictive clauses is fairly common, even in edited prose. However, the American Psychological Association APA , in its 6th edition Manual, recommends adhering to the rule and use that for all restrictive clauses.

Which can be especially useful where two or more relative clauses are joined by and or or. Therefore, we use which and separate the non-restrictive clause with commas. In this example, because all human hearts have four valves, the descriptive clause does not provide necessary identifying information to the sentence.

Here are the sentences that used that. In the second sentence, changing to which causes the sentence to imply that Brad only has one sweater. Here, the sentence has changed to imply that the primary purpose of all laptops is gaming. Because not all laptops are used for gaming purposes, the sentence is not true. Here, the second sentence implies that Stacy owns multiple trucks, thus making it necessary to specify the red one. Take a look at these practice sentences below and see whether they need that or which.

This means the clause is non-restrictive. The third sentence is a trick! If anyone questions your decision, you can say that you are following the advice of the Fowlers, and are making a decision based on custom, euphony, and convenience.

Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free! Log in Sign Up. Usage Notes 'That' vs. What to Know In today's usage which and that are both used to introduce restrictive clauses, those which cannot be removed from the context of the sentence, and which is also used to introduce nonrestrictive clauses, those which provide additional information but can be removed without the sentence falling apart.

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OK, I've been familiar with the distinction between essential and additional relative clauses for a long time. And I've seen many published examples of "which" being used in both situations.

To summarise this article:: Use " which" to introduce additional non-essential information. Use " that" to introduces essential information fine-tuning the description. When PWA sees "which" without a preceding comma, it merely suggests you might want to add one. It never suggests simply changing "which" to "that". It would help enormously if your software reflected the hints you publish in these blogs. Thanks for this! We work hard to have our software do just that, but at the end of the day, it is just software.

We are always working to improve it! There is a grammar error in the article: "The 'which' clause is non-essential or non-restrictive, and as such, is always set off from the rest of the sentence with commas. The explanation on the 'towered building' example confused me a little.

Unlike the others it sort of claims that the use of "that" creates a "causal" connection between the description it introduces and the rest of the sentence, while the emphasis is clearly on the circumstantial connection. I mean, of course, there's probably a good reason to choose one distinguishing feature over another, but the reason "The building-gave me the shivers" isn't necessrily the fact that it "towered over the sightseers". I was reading this example back and forth, and couldnwt get to a conclusion- Doesn't "that" suppose to distinguish objects from similar ones that don't share its differentiating feature?

On the other hand, does the use of "that" obligate the existence of similar objects? This arcticle is very helpful, maybe the one that supplies the most comprehensive view on this subject as far as I've been able to find , hence simply great.

I would really appreciate any sort of feedback, answer, clarification etc. You've come to the right place! This is the kind of thing we absolutely love to nerd-out about.