new sc questions..that vs which

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resilient: Legendary Member; Posts: 789; Joined: Sun May 06, 2007 1:25 amFollowed by: 6 members; Location: Southern California, USA; Thanked: 15 times

by resilient » Sat Feb 02, 2008 10:24 pm

the distance between the two runners, which is over 50 meters, cannot be made up with only three laps to go in the race.

a. the distance between the two runners, which is over 50 meters
b.the distance between the two runners, who is over 50 meters
c.the distance between the two runners, whom is over 50 meters
d. the distance between the two runners, that is over 50 meters
e. the distance between the two runners, whoever is over 50 meters

THE only choices that are debatable are a and d. I thought I knew the difference between that and which but not anymore. any suggestions?

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Source: Beat The GMAT — Sentence Correction | Sat Feb 02, 2008 10:24 pm

resilient: Legendary Member; Posts: 789; Joined: Sun May 06, 2007 1:25 amFollowed by: 6 members; Location: Southern California, USA; Thanked: 15 times

qa

by resilient » Sat Feb 02, 2008 10:37 pm

I dont understand the difference between that and which. why is d WRONG? QA is A

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cynosure80: Newbie | Next Rank: 10 Posts; Posts: 7; Joined: Mon Dec 31, 2007 3:41 pm; Thanked: 1 times

by cynosure80 » Sun Feb 03, 2008 9:00 pm

that is generally used for restrictive phrase and so should not start with comma

,which is common
,that is uncomman

(noun) that is common

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Stuart@KaplanGMAT: GMAT Instructor; Posts: 3225; Joined: Tue Jan 08, 2008 2:40 pmFollowed by: 614 members; Location: Toronto; Thanked: 1710 times; GMAT Score:800

by Stuart@KaplanGMAT » Sun Feb 03, 2008 9:36 pm

Cyno gives a good summary of the general rule.

We use "that" when we're giving information that's required to understand the sentence. We use "which" when we're giving bonus description - in other words, information that adds to the sentence, but isn't required to understand it.

For example:

"The law that governs drunk driving is up for review."

Without "governs drunk driving" we wouldn't know which law is up for review. Since "governs drunk driving" is required to understand the sentence, "that" is correct.

"Law 455, which governs drunk driving, is up for review."

We already know that law 455 is up for review. In this case, "governs drunk driving" is just extra description of the law, but isn't required to understand what's going on. Therefore, we put the information in a parenthetical comment (usually between commas on the GMAT) and put "which" after the comma.

Whenever the information appears in the main part of the sentence, use "that". When the information appears after a comma, use "which".

For the most part, the only time that "which" will appear outside of commas is as part of a prepositional phrase (eg: at which, in which, during which, ...).

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beatthegmat: Site Admin; Posts: 6778; Joined: Mon Feb 13, 2006 8:30 amFollowed by: 994 members; Location: Los Angeles, CA; Thanked: 1249 times

by beatthegmat » Mon Feb 04, 2008 9:21 pm

Stuart Kovinsky wrote:Cyno gives a good summary of the general rule.

We use "that" when we're giving information that's required to understand the sentence. We use "which" when we're giving bonus description - in other words, information that adds to the sentence, but isn't required to understand it.

For example:

"The law that governs drunk driving is up for review."

Without "governs drunk driving" we wouldn't know which law is up for review. Since "governs drunk driving" is required to understand the sentence, "that" is correct.

"Law 455, which governs drunk driving, is up for review."

We already know that law 455 is up for review. In this case, "governs drunk driving" is just extra description of the law, but isn't required to understand what's going on. Therefore, we put the information in a parenthetical comment (usually between commas on the GMAT) and put "which" after the comma.

Whenever the information appears in the main part of the sentence, use "that". When the information appears after a comma, use "which".

For the most part, the only time that "which" will appear outside of commas is as part of a prepositional phrase (eg: at which, in which, during which, ...).

GREAT explanation, Stuart!

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vivek.kapoor83: Legendary Member; Posts: 833; Joined: Mon Aug 04, 2008 1:56 am; Thanked: 13 times

by vivek.kapoor83 » Tue Sep 16, 2008 3:04 am

Thanx a ton Stuart. It was gr8 explanation.
Would request you , if u can write down some more common tricks like this. It will be v v helpful for us.

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stop@800: Legendary Member; Posts: 871; Joined: Wed Aug 13, 2008 7:48 am; Thanked: 48 times

by stop@800 » Wed Sep 17, 2008 9:29 am

One query:
if my sentense is of the form
xyz, which

than which referes to xyz so in answer choice A which will refer to runners and I think it is incorrect.

Please comment

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arvindm07: Junior | Next Rank: 30 Posts; Posts: 24; Joined: Thu Jun 26, 2008 7:21 am

by arvindm07 » Wed Sep 17, 2008 7:11 pm

Yes, I have the same doubt.
The Manhattan SC says that "which" refers to the noun immediately preceding it-not to the action of the entire preceding clause.

Look on pg 78 Manhattan SC.

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scoobydooby: Legendary Member; Posts: 1035; Joined: Wed Aug 27, 2008 10:56 pmFollowed by: 1 member; Thanked: 104 times

by scoobydooby » Wed Sep 17, 2008 11:05 pm

i think "which" in the sentence refers to the "distance" not the runners as the parenthese qualifies the distance- over 50 m not the runners

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