Author Topic: Which and that  (Read 4209 times)

maxsims

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Which and that
« on: June 10, 2009, 09:21:24 AM »
...an autographed copy of Give Your English the Winning Edge, the third book in my English-usage trilogy that's scheduled to roll off the press this month.

I may be old-fashioned, clinging as I do to the convention that non-defining phrases employ which and defining phrases employ that.    I interpret the above sentence to mean that your trilogy will roll off the presses this month.

Joe Carillo

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Re: Which and that
« Reply #1 on: June 10, 2009, 06:54:10 PM »
...an autographed copy of Give Your English the Winning Edge, the third book in my English-usage trilogy that's scheduled to roll off the press this month.

I may be old-fashioned, clinging as I do to the convention that non-defining phrases employ which and defining phrases employ that.    I interpret the above sentence to mean that your trilogy will roll off the presses this month.

You have a valid point there, thanks! I stand corrected. I should have said: "...the third book in my English-usage trilogy. It's scheduled to roll off the press this month." Setting off the "that"-clause as another sentence avoids making it look like a misplaced modifier of "my trilogy" instead of "the third book." (Since I'm using the American English standard, I'm really loath to reconstruct that sentence the British way, as follows: "...the third book in my trilogy, which will roll off the presses this month"--a construction that, by the way, still doesn't do the modifying job as perfectly as I'd want it to be.)

I wish more people would be as eagle-eyed as you about English grammar, Max! Thanks again!

Bunty

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Re: Which and that
« Reply #2 on: September 08, 2010, 03:49:22 PM »
That: A word with a number of different uses:
1.Demonstrative Pronoun:
   I could get on with a man like that.
2.Determiner:
     That book is still funny.
3.Relative Pronoun:
I stared back blandly with the same expression that he was trying on me.
4.Subordinating Conjunction:
A couple of times she had complained that he was trying to adopt her.

Which: which is only used to refer to the number of persons, things, or events mentioned or implied?: which of the men answered? which do you want?

Which can be used in a restrictive clause [the war which had just ended, the class to which he spoke], in a restrictive clause preceded by the pronoun that[he sacrificed that which he valued most], in a nonrestrictive clause [my car, which is not running; my family, in which she found a warm welcome], or, archaically, of a person [Our Father, which art in heaven].
Bunty

Joe Carillo

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Re: Which and that
« Reply #3 on: September 08, 2010, 07:03:58 PM »
Your enumeration and examples of the different uses of "that" are a most welcome addition to the Forum's body of grammar knowledge. Thanks a lot, Bunty!
« Last Edit: September 14, 2010, 03:29:55 PM by Joe Carillo »