Correct usage of 'which' and 'that'

[mycrabface]

what is the difference between these words? when in a sentence do we use them?

[jas]

Can you provide some context? Otherwise there are about a squillion differences. You wouldn't point at a cat and say, "look at which cat," would you?

[johnny-boy]

Which one was that?

John

[netzow]

Which what was that? one is a pro-nouns, Ummmm. Which one that has what context is the on which you want to know so that you will know which one that you want to know that. i.e It all depends on the context, that it is in. The other could mean many things, It could be there are more than one "which one" ............ On and and and on. Not very helpful I'm afraid but that's my two cents for what it's worth (Probably about 1.5 cents)

[johnny-boy]

"One" can be a pronoun, noun, adjective, and several idioms.

John

[prometheus]

'Which' refers to an object, just like 'that' or 'this', except the nuance is that it has an unknow factor. It is like 'who' for objects.

'What' is a word that refers to an unknown, any unknown: 'What message?', 'What do I know?'. Only when used with a noun it can refer to an object or thing.

[leucippus]

Get it Write

"Which" or "That"?

Better Writing

"Which" vs. "That" (includes a link to a quiz)

To find more web articles just type in "Which versus That" in Google, and be sure to include the quotes.

[johnny-boy]

Which way do you want to go; this way or that way? You choose one, and I’ll follow.

John

[prometheus]

Sheesh, I really have dyslexia. I read 'what' instead of 'that' many times. I guess it is the ' that does it. Just ignore my reply. I almost wanted to comment that asking about the difference between 'which and that' is more interesting than asking about the difference between 'which and what'.

Ooh, well.

[johnny-boy]

Grammar can be fun Promey!

Best, John

[prometheus]

Don't get me started. I am learning Japanese right now. It is the total opposite of Dutch.

[johnny-boy]

Don't get me started. I am learning Japanese right now. It is the total opposite of Dutch.

English is enough of a challenge for me. I'm afraid I'd commit hara-kiri trying to learn Japanese.

[barnowl]

From one of leucippus's links...

Here's another example just to make that clear:

Elephants, which have big ears, live in Africa.

Elephants that have big ears live in Africa.

The first of these sentences wrongly implies that ALL elephants have big ears. (In fact, only African elephants do. Indian elephants have small ears.)

Ah, you learn the good stuff here don't you? :-)

The second sentence restricts the elephants we're talking about. It thus correctly implies that only African elephants have big ears.

To the total bewilderment of most American readers, I shall point out that they're asking Noddy for a ransom. :-)

I'm a bewildered American. What;s with the Noddy thing?

[prometheus]

You will have noticed by now that any language is a a big wrestle for me.


So I won't bother with explaining the linguistically interesting aspects of 'hara kiri'/(Seppuku).

[pianolist]

There was an old WITCH from Macbeth
Who inveigled young pianists to death
  By her voice, thin and scratchy,
  WHICH froze them, so THAT she
Could suck out their souls with her breath.

Funny how the rhymes can lead one on. I'm quite harmless, really.

[prometheus]

But 'scratchy' is such an ugly word.

[ada]

It's all about the comma. Consider the following sentences:

1."Companies that cause oil spills should pay up"

2. "Companies, which cause oil spills, should pay up"

Sentence one is known as a defining sentence. It is defining which companies should be held accountable for oil spills, ie, those that cause them.

Sentence two is a non-defining sentence. ie, the subordinate clause implies that ALL companies cause oil spills and therefore ALL companies should be held accountable.

In the case of sentence one, either "that" or "which" is acceptable, and often comes down to sonority, gut reaction and how conversant you are with the english language.

In the case of the second sentence, "which" is the only correct option.

So the short of it is, no commas (defining sentence) use "that" OR "which". Commas (non-defining sentence) use "which".

clear as mud?

[pianistimo]

sometimes you can use them together:

'that which' 

for further confusion - try reading this article from 'The King's English' (2nd edition) 1908
www.bartleby.com/116/205.html

[pianolist]

Dear Pianistimo,

Sometimes the deciphering of THAT WHICH you have written is almost impossible, and the concentration WHICH THAT demands tempts me towards the gin bottle. But alcohol makes me ill, so instead I wrote a limerick about a WITCH from Macbeth with supernatural powers. In my imagination, THAT WHICH THAT WITCH was able to conjure up was beyond human comprehension, and my brain tells me THAT THAT is impossible.

In fact there are three WITCHes in Macbeth, and the WITCH WHICH THAT limerick described might have been any of them. WHICH WITCH indeed! However, with your strong faith you needn't worry, because WITCHes are frightened of churches. They never get further than the WYCH gate. You sometimes find WYCH gates at the entrance to graveyards, and maybe those aren't so bad for normal WITCHes. You'd have to ask each WITCH WHICH WYCH gate she preferred. How's THAT?

[pianistimo]

oooh.  impressive.  hard to beat, too!

i shall focus on the terms 'correct useage' to knock you down ten rungs.  it is known in english teacher circles that you should not use an 'a' before a word that starts with a vowel.  neither should you string many homonyms together that begin with a consonant.   it would be taking another form of concentration - especially if read aloud - which some people do even when reading silently. 

NOW, can you really read what you wrote aloud and have someone understand it the first time around?  maybe put several long spaces in between the words and fill them with imagery (cackle after the witch - point to a gate after the gate).  this may further the descent of the word into cacophony - but give 'between the lines' hints as to the reasoning behind the illiteration.