Sentence Correction

Hello Experts,

Could you please let me know what is the primary difference between 'That' and 'Which' when both used as a modifier? I know that 'That' is an essential modifier whereas ',Which' acts as a non essential modifier and ',which' should be placed as close to the noun it modifies. But I seem to get confused when I encounter them in SC questions.

Also, is it absolutely mandatory to have ',' before 'which'? That is, does/can 'Which' ever act as as an essential modifier all the time in a sentence?

Also, is it correct to assume that in order to convert a non essential modifier to essential modifier, I can replace the ',which' to a sentence that uses 'that' ?

Please also share any tips I can use to judge the correct usage of 'This' vs 'Which'

Thanks in advance.

Typo.

Corrected: Please also share any tips I can use to judge the correct usage of 'That' vs 'Which'

See this thread for a discussion of that vs which: https://www.beatthegmat.com/digging-in-s ... tml#741891

royrijit1 wrote: Could you please let me know what is the primary difference between 'That' and 'Which' when both used as a modifier? I know that 'That' is an essential modifier whereas ',Which' acts as a non essential modifier and ',which' should be placed as close to the noun it modifies. But I seem to get confused when I encounter them in SC questions.

You understanding seems to be correct, though I don't recollect seeing any official questions that test you on exclusively on this concept alone.

Also, is it absolutely mandatory to have ',' before 'which'?

I would say yes. A notable exception to this is when which is a part of .prepositional phrase, in which case there should not be a comma before which (notice how there is no comma before which in my last sentence, because which is a part of prepositional phrase: in which.

Also, is it correct to assume that in order to convert a non essential modifier to essential modifier, I can replace the ',which' to a sentence that uses 'that' ?

Technically yes, because that is essential. However, as mentioned, I don't believe GMAT would exclusively test you on this concept.

p.s. Our book EducationAisle Sentence Correction Nirvana discusses differences between which and that, their application and examples in significant detail. If someone is interested, PM me your email-id, I can mail the corresponding section.

e. Correct use of that vs which modifying clauses
As relative pronouns the two words "that" and "which" are often interchangeable:
The house that/which stands on the hill is up for sale.
The school that/which they go to is just around the corner.
(When that or which is the object of a following verb, it can be omitted altogether,
as in The school they go to : : :.)
When the relative clause adds incidental (non-essential) information rather than identifying
the noun it follows, which is used and is preceded by a comma:
The house, which stands on the hill, is up for sale.
It means:
The house is up for sale. It happens to be on the hill.
When the relative clause identifies the noun it follows with essential information
rather than adding incremental information, that is used without a comma:
The house that stands on the hill is up for sale.
It implies:
The house on the hill is up for sale. Not the house on the lake.
In other words, you can remove which from the sentence without affecting the meaning,
while you have to keep that in the sentence to understand it fully.




See if this helps.......

EducationAisle wrote:

royrijit1 wrote: Could you please let me know what is the primary difference between 'That' and 'Which' when both used as a modifier? I know that 'That' is an essential modifier whereas ',Which' acts as a non essential modifier and ',which' should be placed as close to the noun it modifies. But I seem to get confused when I encounter them in SC questions.

You understanding seems to be correct, though I don't recollect seeing any official questions that test you on exclusively on this concept alone.

Also, is it absolutely mandatory to have ',' before 'which'?

I would say yes. A notable exception to this is when which is a part of .prepositional phrase, in which case there should not be a comma before which (notice how there is no comma before which in my last sentence, because which is a part of prepositional phrase: in which.

Also, is it correct to assume that in order to convert a non essential modifier to essential modifier, I can replace the ',which' to a sentence that uses 'that' ?

Technically yes, because that is essential. However, as mentioned, I don't believe GMAT would exclusively test you on this concept.

p.s. Our book EducationAisle Sentence Correction Nirvana discusses differences between which and that, their application and examples in significant detail. If someone is interested, PM me your email-id, I can mail the corresponding section.

I read the excerpt you send to me and it was really useful
Thanks for that....

i have another question for you

We finally chose the coffee table towards the back of the store, which we thought would
complement our living room furniture.

Now as explained in your book here, grammatically which's antecedent here is " the store" which is wrong so can we replace it with 'that' and remove comma.
Will then the answer be correct??


(We) finally chose the coffee table towards the back of the store, because (we) thought that this
table would complement (our) living room furniture.

This is the answer given in the source.....

So, are both former and latter correct or only the latter one...and why?

akash singhal wrote: I read the excerpt you send to me and it was really useful
Thanks for that....

You're welcome Akash. Glad you liked it.

i have another question for you

We finally chose the coffee table towards the back of the store, which we thought would
complement our living room furniture.

Now as explained in your book here, grammatically which's antecedent here is " the store" which is wrong

You are right; the above sentence is incorrect.

so can we replace it with 'that' and remove comma.
Will then the answer be correct??

Technically yes; however, GMAT does not test you on such variations between which and that. In other words, you are not likely to get two options, wherein the only difference is which and that.

So, what would serve you best, is your understanding that which is not correct in this sentence.

Just to give an example, following is a correct sentence:

Written in ink or engraved by stylus, more than 2,000 letters and documents on wooden tablets excavated at the site of the old roman fort at vindolanda in northern England are yielding a historical account of the military garrison in the first and second centuries that is as vivid in its details of personal life as that gathered from Pompeii.

Notice that the bold that is modifying historical account in the above sentence. See how far it is!

(We) finally chose the coffee table towards the back of the store, because (we) thought that this
table would complement (our) living room furniture.

This is the answer given in the source.....

Sure there can be more than one ways to articulate the correct sentence.