Prompt Proofing Blog Post: Grammar Tips: Which or That?

    VANCOUVER, BC, October 05, 2012 /24-7PressRelease/ -- The which/that conundrum continues to confuse many writers. If you are tired of Word producing green wiggly lines under your use of which read on!

Simply put, that introduces a restrictive clause whereas which introduces a non-restrictive clause.

The non-restrictive clause may contain information that is not essential to the sentence. For example:

My car, which I just bought, has a leak in the radiator.

The clause, which I just bought, is non-essential; it qualifies the subject, my car, but is non-restrictive; it provides additional information but the sentence makes perfect sense without it. In this case, there must always be a comma preceding which.

On the other hand:

I would not buy a car that had a leaky radiator.

This time, that is used because the clause, ...that had a leaky radiator, is restrictive - the speaker would not buy any car that had a leaky radiator. Restrictive clauses do not need a comma.

Similarly:

I am not interested in buying a house that does not have a garage. (restrictive)

I am not interested in buying the larger house, which is too close to the road. (non-restrictive).

Check back next month for more grammar tips.

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