Which vs that

[Beeesneees]

[Alan]

Hi Zainab011,

It is important to note that both 'that' and 'which' in your sentences are relative pronoins. 'That' as a relative pronoun is conventionally used after a superlative as in: The best book that I have read. This use illustrates the defining nature of the pronoun. The lawnmower that is in .. defines a particular lawnwwwer in contrast to any other lawnmower. The lawnmower which is in the .. merely links the noun 'lawnmower' with its location 'in the garage'.

Alan
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English as a Second Language
You can read my ESL story Present Simple

[Mabpro]

Thanks for your explanations. I sometimes confuse Which and That.

[Fatemeh5]

hi mr. Torsten
. thanks for this nice question.
at first i didn't know the differences between which and that, but now i underestand .
thank you very much.

[Aydn55]

[Beeesneees]

You seem to be confused, Aydn. If you mean by 'the sentence given' the original test sentence in this thread then 'that' is correct.
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Cheers m' dears!

[Harila]

Thank you alan,
I got 7 out of 10 questions. I totaly confused about why "that" is used insted of which, what but now understanding some when Iam reading explanations still I am not understanding clearly. I want to some more examples to understood clearly. I have nill knowledge in usage of grammer so please tell me differentiate between what , which and that.

[Lyne]

Hello Everyone,

I just happened upon this thread. I'm an ex-English teacher and, if I may, I'd like to try to help.

It often gets confusing when 'which' and 'that' are being used as relative pronouns to introduce adjective clauses. The one you use can change the meaning or intent of a sentence. For example: He ate the chocolate cake, which Martha baked, for dessert. The important point in this sentence is that he ate the chocolate cake. The fact that Martha baked it is just extra, nonessential information. You can leave out "which Martha baked" and the meaning of the sentence doesn't change. But, if the sentence is "He ate the chocolate cake that Martha baked for dessert." then the meaning of the sentence changes. It suggests that more than one chocolate cake was available and he ate the one that Martha baked.

Another example: The car, which was just washed, is blue. This means that we have one car and it's blue. (And, by the way, it was just washed.) But if the sentence is "The car that was just washed is blue.", then the fact that the car is blue is important. We have more than one car and the blue car was the one that was just washed.

So, the general rule is: 'which' clauses are nonessential, while 'that' clauses are essential or necessary to sentence meaning. A 'which' clauses is set off from the rest of a sentence by two commas (like in the previous examples) or by one comma if it come at the end of a sentence: "I bought a green dress, which happened to be my boyfriend's favorite color."

One more example: The mother gave cookies to all the kids that played nicely. "...that played nicely" is necessary and essential to the sentence's meaning so 'that' is used, without a comma. If you left it out, the sentence would be "The mother gave cookies to all the kids.", which does not mean the same thing at all.

(One the other hand, re-read the previous sentence and leave out the phrase "which does not mean the same thing at all". That phrase or clause is nonessential, because it can be omitted and the sentence still means the same thing.

I do hope this is helpful and not more confusing.

Lyne

[Alan]

Hi,

I must add another point concerning 'which'. You can also use it as a defining relative where it isn't preceded by a comma and it takes on the characteristics you have described for 'that' as in: I am looking for the book which I left on the table - in other words that book and not any other one.

Alan
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English as a Foreign Language
You can read my EFL story Progressive Forms

[Cherrypzta]

Hi!

I understood perfectly; thanks for the explanation torsten,

If you are talking about something specific (something you know) you use THAT instead of WHICH.
If you are talking about something not specific Use WHICH

nICE