Which that

Here, the sentence has changed to imply that the primary purpose of all laptops is gaming. Because not all laptops are used for gaming purposes, the sentence is not true. Here, the second sentence implies that Stacy owns multiple trucks, thus making it necessary to specify the red one.

Take a look at these practice sentences below and see whether they need that or which. This means the clause is non-restrictive. The third sentence is a trick! If there are multiple gyms five minutes from your house, you would use that to specify the one with the racquetball courts. However, if there is only one gym five minutes from your house, the clause is non-restrictive, and you would use which.

Note: Closed-captioning and a full transcript are available for this vidcast. General Writing Grammar. Here's an example: Diamonds, which are expensive , often elicit forgiveness. Alas, in Grammar Girl's world, diamonds are always expensive, so leaving out the words which are expensive doesn't change the meaning of the sentence.

Also note that the phrase is surrounded by commas. Nonrestrictive clauses are usually surrounded by, or preceded by, commas. Here's another example: There was an earthquake in China, which is bad news. Her popular LinkedIn Learning courses help people write better to communicate better. Jump to Navigation. Which Versus That.

By Mignon Fogarty Grammar Girl. March 21, Here's the killer bit: All entries end with a clearly worded summary that explains why the grammar point is relevant for a writer. If you like Grammar Monster, you'll love this book. See on Amazon "Grammar for Grown-ups" Vocational rather than academic, "Grammar for Grown-ups" is packed with real-life examples and keeps you engaged with a wealth of great quotations from Homer the Greek to Homer the Simpson.

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Use "that" for things and, informally, for people. For example: The carpet which you bought has moth damage. A "carpet" is a thing, so "which" is correct. NB: Using "which" without a comma is unpopular, especially in the US. We would not know the type of products being discussed without the that clause.

Rule 2b. Which introduces a nonessential clause also known as a nonrestrictive or nondefining clause , which adds supplementary information. Example: The product claiming "all natural ingredients," which appeared in the Sunday newspaper, is on sale.

The product is already identified. Therefore, which appeared in the Sunday newspaper is a nonessential clause containing additional, but not essential, information. Essential clauses do not have commas introducing or surrounding them, whereas nonessential clauses are introduced or surrounded by commas.

Rule 3. If that has already appeared in a sentence, writers sometimes use which to introduce the next clause, whether it is essential or nonessential.