{"id":892787,"date":"2017-08-23T14:25:18","date_gmt":"2017-08-23T20:25:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/?p=892787"},"modified":"2017-08-23T14:25:18","modified_gmt":"2017-08-23T20:25:18","slug":"the-trouble-with-which-and-that","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/the-trouble-with-which-and-that\/","title":{"rendered":"The Trouble With \u2018Which\u2019 and \u2018That\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

Gary Blake | Claims Journal<\/a> | August 11, 2017<\/p>\n

In my book,\u00a0The Elements of Business Writing<\/em>\u00a0(Pearson Education), I have a section on \u201cMisused and Troublesome Words.\u201d Among the most troublesome pairs of words in English are\u00a0which<\/em>\u00a0and\u00a0that<\/em>. Most people use them interchangeably, but each has its special place in communication.<\/p>\n

I wrote, \u201cIdeally,\u00a0that<\/em>\u00a0is used with a restrictive clause \u2013 a clause absolutely necessary to the meaning of the sentence (e.g., This is the project that will launch your career.)<\/p>\n

\u201cWhich<\/em>\u00a0is used with a nonrestrictive clause \u2013 a clause that is parenthetic and is not necessary to the meaning of the sentence (e.g., The executive committee, which is made up of vice-presidents, has not discussed the problem.).\u201d<\/p>\n

A clause is simply a group of words containing a subject and a verb.<\/p>\n

Another writer illustrates the difference between \u201cwhich\u201d and \u201cthat\u201d by giving us four sentences in which the adjective clause has been bracketed:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Our house [that has a door and green shutters] needs painting.<\/li>\n
  2. Our house, which has a red door and green shutters], needs painting.<\/li>\n
  3. The classrooms [that were painted over the summer] are bright and cheerful.<\/li>\n
  4. The classrooms, [which were painted over the summer], are bright and cheerful.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    In all four cases, the adjective clause tells us something about either the house or the classrooms, but the choice of\u00a0which<\/em>\u00a0or\u00a0that<\/em>\u00a0changes the way we should read each sentence.<\/p>\n

    For example, in the first sentence, the use of\u00a0that<\/em>\u00a0suggests we own more than one house and therefore must explain to you that we are talking about a particular house of ours \u2013 the one with the red door and green shutters. We cannot leave out the adjective clause because it is essential to your understanding of the sentence, that is, you wouldn\u2019t know which one of our houses needs the paint job without the adjective clause.<\/p>\n

    The\u00a0which<\/em>\u00a0clause in the fourth sentence is called a nonessential \u2013 or nonrestrictive clause. Since that sentence intends to tell us that ALL the classrooms were painted, the information in the adjective clause is not essential. the sentence would be clear even if the clause were omitted.<\/p>\n

    It\u2019s my guess that about 70 percent of the time we use\u00a0which<\/em>\u00a0we really ought to use the restrictive\u00a0that<\/em>. For example:<\/p>\n

    \u201cThe pen,\u00a0which<\/em>\u00a0I gave you, is broken.\u201d<\/p>\n

    Or, did you mean to specify: \u201cThe pen that I gave you is broken.\u201d The word that, once again, specifies that only the pen that I gave you is broken.<\/p>\n

    By now, you can see that in the majority of cases, the word\u00a0that<\/em>\u00a0can be left out without harming the sentence: \u201cThe pen I gave you is broken.\u201d Without\u00a0that<\/em>, the idea still comes across: The [particular] pen I gave you is broken.<\/p>\n

    Many teachers refer to a clause starting with \u201cwhich\u201d as a \u201cwhich<\/em>\u00a0clause\u201d and should signal that the words following\u00a0which<\/em>\u00a0may add some interesting information, but are not essential to the meaning of the sentence. To test out if you need\u00a0that<\/em>\u00a0instead of\u00a0which<\/em>, read your sentence aloud and insert the phrase \u201cthe particular one\u201d before\u00a0that<\/em>\u00a0[ The (particular) lawsuit that was tried in South Carolina has national implications regarding the wording of reservations of rights letters. Clearly, in this case, the writer is specifying that ONLY the lawsuit tried in South Carolina is being discussed.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Gary Blake | Claims Journal | August 11, 2017 In my book,\u00a0The Elements of Business Writing\u00a0(Pearson Education), I have a section on \u201cMisused and Troublesome Words.\u201d Among the most troublesome pairs of words in English are\u00a0which\u00a0and\u00a0that. Most people use them interchangeably, but each has its special place in communication. I wrote, \u201cIdeally,\u00a0that\u00a0is used with a… Continue reading The Trouble With \u2018Which\u2019 and \u2018That\u2019<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[9,3],"tags":[9895,72,3],"class_list":["post-892787","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-construction-contracts","category-insurance-claims","tag-advise-consult","tag-construction-contracts-2","tag-insurance-claims","entry"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"yoast_head":"\nThe Trouble With \u2018Which\u2019 and \u2018That\u2019 - 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