I want a car that accelerates quickly. You should take the job that pays the most. Which as a Relative Pronoun The difference between which and that is how they are used.
For example: The house next door, which used to belong to a local celebrity, is up for sale. My wedding dress, which I bought last week, fits me perfectly. Interrogative Pronouns Both who and which are also interrogative pronouns, which means that you can use them to ask questions. Who ate the last piece of pizza? Who was the last student to arrive? Who is receiving the award tonight?
Who called the store this morning? For example: Which dress looks best on me? Which appetizer would you prefer? Which plane should we take? See if Andy knows which address is right. Which movie would you like to see? Check out these examples to see how: Who ate the last piece of pizza? That guy ate the last piece of pizza. Who's that with you? Is that Alison? Did you get that cheque I sent? That idiot porter again knocked on my door! That was a terrible case of blackmail in the paper today That was a good year, wasn't it.
If you're confused about that versus which, don't feel bad. It's one of the most common topics people ask me about. I used to work as a technical writer, and I'd often edit documents in which people used the wrong word.
More than once, I'd put in the right word, only to have clients change a perfectly fine that to a which and send it back to me. Here's an example:. The words that sparkle restrict the kind of gems you're talking about. Without them, the meaning of the sentence would change. Without them, you'd be saying that all gems elicit forgiveness, not just the gems that sparkle.
And note that you don't need commas around the words that sparkle. Alas, in Grammar Girl's world, diamonds are always expensive, so leaving out the words which are expensive doesn't change the meaning of the sentence. Also note that the phrase is surrounded by commas. Nonrestrictive clauses are usually surrounded by, or preceded by, commas. You use which in questions when there are two or more possible answers or alternatives.
Which do they want me to do, declare war or surrender? Which are the ones you really like? Which are the good adverts for you? Which is also a determiner. Which woman or man do you most admire?
You go down that passageway over there. Which vitamin supplements are good value? I wanted to know which school it was you went to I can't remember which teachers I had Scientists have long wondered which parts of the brain are involved in musical tasks. Which is also a conjunction. In her panic she couldn't remember which was Mr Grainger's cabin There are so many diets on the market, how do you know which to choose? Soldiers opened fire on a car which failed to stop at an army checkpoint He's based in Banja Luka, which is the largest city in northern Bosnia Colic describes a whole variety of conditions in which a horse suffers abdominal pain I'm no longer allowed to smoke in any room which he currently occupies.
They ran out of drink. Which actually didn't bother me because I wasn't drinking Since we started in September we have raised fifty thousand pounds, which is pretty good going Visited Park West. Viewed a flat, no. Which I like. The chances are you haven't fully decided what you want from your career at the moment, in which case you're definitely not cut out to be a boss yet! They all look so alike to me that I'm never sure which is which It's essential to know which is which as treatments will be quite different.
After superlative degree. This sentence implies that the speaker has at least one other car. Specifically, the car he is taking about is distinguished from his other cars by its colour.
Here is no implication that the speaker owns more than one car. The 'blue' colour is simply an added description of the car. In this relative clause, either 'that' or 'which' may be used to introduce the relative clause. Some grammarians prefer 'that' in this case.
Here, the relative clauses defines its antecedent and the relative clause is essential to make the meaning clear. Here, "that is blue" defines its antecedent "car". The sentence implies that the speaker has more than one car. Specifically, the car he is talking about is distinguished from his other cars by its blue colour.
This type of relative clause doesn't definite its antecedent. It only adds information. The added description isn't essential. Whether to use that and which depends on whether the clause it introduces is restrictive or non-restrictive. A restrictive clause means that the information in the clause is necessary to understand the preceding noun. For a restrictive clause, use that. Here, because not all laptops are used for gaming purposes, we use that to indicate the necessary information.
Once again, this sentence indicates there are multiple chairs in the kitchen, making it important to include a restrictive clause. Note that the restrictive clause does not necessarily need to be positioned immediately after the noun. This sort of clause is a non-restrictive clause.
There is one other important distinction between restrictive and non-restrictive clauses: commas are used to separate the non-restrictive clauses from the rest of the sentence. 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. It's one of the most common topics people ask me about, and it all boils down to restrictive clauses. If you're confused about that versus which , don't feel bad.
It's one of the most common topics people ask me about. I used to work as a technical writer, and I'd often edit documents in which people used the wrong word. More than once, I'd put in the right word, only to have clients change a perfectly fine that to a which and send it back to me.
In fact, having a client try to overrule my correction of a which to a that was one of the things that pushed me over the edge and made me start the Grammar Girl podcast.
That vs. Which: What's the Difference? Here's an easy way to remember the difference between that and which: If removing the words that follow would change the meaning of the sentence, use "that.
Some people will argue that the rules are more complex and flexible than this, but I like to make things as simple as possible, so I say that you use that before a restrictive clause and which before everything else.
0コメント