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Have you ever been confused about when you should use the word that instead of which? Or when to use which instead of that? The wrong usage of these words is common.
And, yeah, it’s common to be confused. A lot of professional writers seem to be confused about this and often use these words incorrectly. In the old days, I used that for everything and didn’t worry about proper usage.
“Don’t worry about it.”
Then I became an English teacher, and students ask pesky questions like, “When do I use that and when do I use which?”
Here’s an Easy Way to Get Unconfused
It’s a grammar thing, and most of us really don’t like grammar, but sometimes it’s good to know a thing or two.
- Use THAT when what follows can’t be cut from the sentence without changing the meaning.
- Use WHICH when what follows can be cut from the sentence without changing the meaning. What follows is extra information, which might be nice but isn’t necessary.
- FYI:Â put a comma before WHICH and after, if the phrase doesn’t end the sentence.
If you aren’t a grammar geek, don’t read the next two sentences.
- The word that comes before a restrictive clause. A restrictive phrase or clause adds meaning to a sentence and cannot be cut without altering the meaning.
- The word which comes before a nonrestrictive clause. A nonrestrictive phrase or clause is extra information, which could be interesting but isn’t essential to the meaning.
Non-grammar geeks: It’s okay to read from here down
Here are some examples of when to use which:
- My car, which is red, is broke down. (We don’t need to know the car is red.)
- The new landscaping, which looks disgusting, isn’t practical. (That the writer thinks the landscaping looks disgusting isn’t necessary to the meaning of the sentence)
- My trash cans, which stink like sewage, are too big to fit on the side of the house. (Same thing here.)
Here are some examples of when to use that:
- The English class that I need is full. (“that I need” refers to the specific English class and can’t be cut. It’s unlikely all the English classes are full; it’s only the class the writer needs.)
- The baseball game that we had tickets for was canceled. (Not all the games were canceled.)
- The tree that drops blue flowers is messy and a nuisance. (Not all the trees drop blue flowers.)
I’m a big fan of cutting unnecessary words. That is a word you can often cut without changing the meaning of your sentence. If you can cut it, do so. For example:
- The English class I need is full.
- The baseball game we had ticket for was canceled.
- The tree that drops blue flower is messy. (Cutting that doesn’t work with this sentence)
One more thing about that: never use it when referring to people; use who. I’ve seen some Internet articles advising people to use that when referring to people. Wrong! We all probably slip and use that for people in everyday speech, but don’t do it in writing. It’s not just bad form; it’s really bad form.
- The boy who broke the window ran away.
- The girl who hit a home run fell.
- My uncle, who looks like George Clooney, couldn’t make it.
- My grandparents, who have been married for forty years, went on vacation.
I hope you noticed that who works in the same ways as that and which. The first two who phrases are necessary to the meaning of the sentence (restrictive) and don’t require commas. The last two require commas because the who phrases aren’t necessary to the meaning of the sentences (nonrestrictive); however, if they were necessary to the meaning of the sentence, then the commas aren’t necessary. If you have one uncle in example three, then the phrase isn’t necessary. If you have several uncles and one looks like George Clooney, then, the comment is necessary to the meaning of the sentence. Yeah, I know. You really didn’t want to read the grammar words again.
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The Usual Reminders
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