That vs. Which strategy

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lkcr: Junior | Next Rank: 30 Posts; Posts: 14; Joined: Sat Mar 24, 2012 7:52 amFollowed by: 1 member

by lkcr » Sun Apr 08, 2012 8:52 pm

Dear all,

Just wanted to see how many different strategies or rather, general "rules of thumb" there are out there for deciding whether "which" or "that" should be used in any given sentence.

Personally; I like to think of "which" as introducing a subordinate clause that modifies the noun preceding it. "That" would be a pronoun which must be followed by a modifier illustrating how it is different to the antecedent.

Please feel free to correct my above idea/thought and please do suggest any other "rules of thumb" that you found useful!

Much appreciated!

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Source: Beat The GMAT — Sentence Correction | Sun Apr 08, 2012 8:52 pm

Jim@StratusPrep: MBA Admissions Consultant; Posts: 2279; Joined: Fri Nov 11, 2011 7:51 amFollowed by: 266 members; Location: New York; Thanked: 660 times; GMAT Score:770

by Jim@StratusPrep » Mon Apr 09, 2012 9:33 am

General rule is this: If the information is required to understand the sentence use 'that' with no comma. If it is not required, use 'which' with a comma.

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lkcr: Junior | Next Rank: 30 Posts; Posts: 14; Joined: Sat Mar 24, 2012 7:52 amFollowed by: 1 member

by lkcr » Mon Apr 09, 2012 4:22 pm

Thanks Jim - I'm guessing that to judge whether the clause is essential or non-essential will depend on what the sentence is trying to say as a whole?

I.e. Which/That usage is very much a judgmental call

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GMAT Kolaveri: Master | Next Rank: 500 Posts; Posts: 287; Joined: Fri Mar 23, 2012 12:33 amFollowed by: 6 members; Location: Pune,India; Thanked: 60 times

by GMAT Kolaveri » Mon Apr 09, 2012 5:41 pm

lkcr wrote:Thanks Jim - I'm guessing that to judge whether the clause is essential or non-essential will depend on what the sentence is trying to say as a whole?

I.e. Which/That usage is very much a judgmental call

After removing the clause if the meaning does not change then use "which".
If the meaning changes then that clause is required for the intended meaning.

https://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/wh ... -that.aspx

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lkcr: Junior | Next Rank: 30 Posts; Posts: 14; Joined: Sat Mar 24, 2012 7:52 amFollowed by: 1 member

by lkcr » Tue Apr 10, 2012 12:24 am

Thanks Kolaveri.

Would it be correct to say "which" more often than not will precede a working verb like "were"?

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