Which VS That

Question

When do you use that and when which?I tried looking them up, but the rule speaks of restrictive and non-restrictive contexts. Even with the help of the examples I couldn't understand what they are what's the difference.Can someone explain, please?

AlpheccaStars · Accepted Answer

Hi;

You are asking two questions - 1) the use of that vs which and 2) restrictive vs non-restrictive clauses.

For #1, this is a good resource to read. It has many examples of relative pronouns.

http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/645/1/

#2.

A non-restrictive clause provides information, but you can delete it without changing the essential meaning of the sentence.
If you delete a restrictive clause, you remove some essential information in the sentence.

Wine that has become cloudy is no longer good to drink.
If you remove the underlined words, you get this:
Wine is no longer good to drink.
Clearly, the meaning is different.

The dog that is wearing the blue ribbon won first prize.
If you remove the underlined words, the reader will have no idea which dog won first prize.

Do this one for yourself -

Students who do their homework and study every day get good grades.

Contrast this one:

Bill Gates, who was born in California, has become a great philanthropist.
If you remove the underlined words, the meaning has not changed. The information that he was born in California is not critical to the sentence.

Sometimes it is not obvious. The writer can tell the reader if the information is essential or not.

The eggs, which were fresh, tasted good.
The writer is saying that the eggs tasted good. It so happens that they were fresh.

The eggs that were fresh tasted good. (The eggs that were not fresh tasted bad.)

The writer is saying that the fresh eggs tasted good, and the stale eggs tasted bad. The clause is essential to the meaning.

Kerowin · Answer

Thank you so much for taking the time to reply, you've been very clear and helpful. With your examples, I finally understood restrictive and non-restrictive clauses. I never imagined that one could change the meaning of a phrase with something so subtle.
I will also be saving the link you provided to my favourites, there is so much I can surely learn from there, though I must admit the level of the English they use to explain is slightly challenging for me, as I am not familiar with many grammatical terms.

CalifJim · Answer

Restrictive: Use that or which
Non-restrictive: Use which only.

The difference is that non-restrictive clauses are parenthetical. They don't add information that specifies (narrows down; restricts) the meaning of the accompanying noun.

CJ

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