The menacing difference between ‘that’ and ‘which’
Imagine that you’re walking your sister’s dog around your neighbourhood day-dreaming about attending a concert, during historic pre-Covid times. Suddenly, you realise that your sister’s dog is MIA(missing in action) ,all thanks to the leash you carelessly forgot to tighten. In a panic state, you decide to go to the nearest police station and say:
“ My dog, which has brown spots, is missing. No, wait, My dog that has brown spots is missing.”
Should you use ‘that’ or ‘which’? Seems confusing right? Let me break it down for you.
Both ‘that’ and ‘which’ are pronouns used in ‘relative clauses’. Wait, what are clauses? Why are they relative? Let’s simplify it with an example:
“The Avenger that has a shield will win in the next movie.”
Now, can you see that this sentence has two parts.
The two parts give two separate bits of information about common ‘The Avenger’. Since both of them have a ‘subject’ and a ‘verb’, they create a clause. Now , I want you to notice how extract ‘2’ gives us the complete information about the Avenger winning in the next movie. This makes it an independent clause.
Now look at the part that starts with ‘that’. This part gives us specific information about the subject ``The Avenger”. It’s not just any Avenger , it’s the Avenger ‘with a shield’ who will win in the next movie. ‘That ‘ or ‘which’ are added in a sentence to create a dependent/ relative clause that adds specific details to the independent clause by staying dependent on it.
What’s the difference between ‘that’ and ‘which’ then?
That — adds information that is needed or is essential to understand what the speaker is talking about.
For example: The shoe that is broken needs to be repaired.
Here, it’s not just any shoe that needs to be repaired. It’s ‘only the shoe that is broken’ that needs to be repaired.
which — adds non-essential information or necessary to understand the words of the speaker
For example: My car, which my brother got me, has broken down
In this sentence, it’s beneficial to have the information that the broken down car was gifted by the speaker’s brother, but it’s not necessary. The essential information about the speaker’s car being broken down can be communicated without it too.
Statutory warning: Similar to the scary witch, the pronoun ‘which’ is bad with people. So if a sentence states, “ My mother Martha, which you met yesterday, is sick.” Run a high alert and take the ‘which’ out when dealing with people. The correct sentence shall be: “ My mother Martha, ‘who’ you met yesterday, is sick.”
There’s one more thing I want you to note, but before that , let’s glance back at both the sentence,
- The shoe that is broken needs to be repaired.
2. My car, which my brother got me, has broken down.
Did you notice something? Look a bit closer. You shall see that the second sentence with a relative clause starting with ‘which’ does have commas around it, on the other hand, the one starting with ‘that’ isn’t written with any commas. A clause that starts with ‘which’ is like a removable Lego piece, even if you take it out, the sentence shall make sense. On the other hand, a clause ‘that is broken’ is essential and therefore, can’t be treated like a removable Lego piece.
Long story short, whenever you’re confused between ‘that’ or ‘which’ , just answer this question “Will the sentence still make sense if I take it out?” If the answer is ‘yes’ , making the information additional , use ‘which’ with commas and if the answer is ‘no’ making the information essential similar to the description of the ‘brown spotted dog’ in front of a police officer, add ‘that.’ .
Huff! Seems like too many words to take in, right? Let’s switch some gears but first meet my friend Pintu’s mom. Why? You’ll find out!
