In English, the brief, concise, and unembellished sentence is preferable to the long and complex sentence that packs in so many ideas. But pursuing sentence brevity for its own sake can often lead to oversimplified, choppy, dull, and deadening prose. In contrast, stronger, clearer, and more elegant writing can be achieved by judiciously combining sentences or by adding modifying clauses to them.
Consider this passage: “The Philippines is a republic in the southwest Pacific Ocean. It is to be found between the equator and the Tropic of Cancer. It comprises more than 7,100 islands. It has islands that range in size from small rock formations to the 41,845-sq.mi. Luzon Island. This island is the biggest. Only 730 of the islands are inhabited. Eleven of the islands account for most of the total land area. These islands also account for most of the population.”
Now see how much more emphatic it becomes when the sentences are judiciously combined: “The Philippines
, a republic consisting of 7,100 islands in the southwest Pacific Ocean, lies between the equator and the Tropic of Cancer. The islands range in size from small rock formations to the 41,845-sq.m. Luzon Island
, which is the biggest. Only 730 of the islands are inhabited
, and 11 of these account for most of the total land area and most of the population.”
When the added information is a clause that will modify a noun or pronoun in the sentence, it is called an
adjective clause. The relative pronoun “who” must be used to introduce this clause when the antecedent noun or pronoun is a person; “which” or “that” must be used when that antecedent is a thing or place.
We are familiar with using “who” when adding an adjective clause to a sentence. Take these two sentences: “Albert Einstein was a German-born Swiss-American theoretical physicist. He developed the Theory of Relativity.” We simply replace the pronoun “he” with the relative pronoun “who” and combine the two sentences: “Albert Einstein was the German-born Swiss-American theoretical physicist
who developed the Theory of Relativity.”
When the antecedent noun is a thing or place, we should use “that.” Take these two sentences: “The kids caught the mouse. That mouse had eaten the cheese.” Here they are combined: “The kids caught the mouse
that had eaten the cheese.”
In the two examples above that use “who” and “that” as combiners, the added clauses are
restrictive clauses; they are necessary to the meaning of the combined sentences.
In some combined sentences, however, the added clauses are
non-restrictive clauses; they are not absolutely necessary to what is meant but merely give additional information. In such instances, the clause has to be combined not with “that” but with “who” or “which” and should be set off with commas.
Example: “The kid left the breakfast table for a while and was shocked that his cheese sandwich was missing when he returned. A mouse was still nibbling on it in a corner. It scurried off with the sandwich as he approached.”
Combined: “The kid
, who left the breakfast table for a while, was shocked that his cheese sandwich was missing when he returned. A mouse
, which was still nibbling the sandwich in a corner, scurried off with it when he approached.”
Another example: “The mouse deer is indigenous to Balabac, Palawan. It has the scientific name
Tragulus aquaticus.” Since the clause “has the scientific name
Tragulus aquaticus” is optional information when combined with the first sentence, we must set it off with commas as follows: “The mouse deer
, which has the scientific name Tragulus aquaticus, is indigenous to the Philippines.”
In American English, it is grammatically wrong to do away with the commas when using “which” as a
combiner. Only “who” or “that” can be used as restrictive combiners and they never use commas to set the adjective clause off: “The mouse deer
that has the scientific name Tragulus aquaticus is indigenous to the Philippines.”
This essay is a condensation of an 818-word chapter that appeared in the author’s 2004 book English Plain and Simple: No-Nonsense Ways to Learn Today’s Global Language.”
Read this essay and listen to its voice recording in
The Manila Times:
“Which,” “that,” and other grammar pitfalls(Next:
Rx for strays, danglers, and squinters) August 3, 2023
Visit Jose Carillo’s English Forum, http://josecarilloforum.com. You can follow me on Facebook and Twitter and e-mail me at j8carillo@yahoo.com.
