Esl which vs that

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August 22, October 28, July 10, April 23, Here, because not all laptops are used for gaming purposes, we use that to indicate the necessary information. Once again, this sentence indicates there are multiple chairs in the kitchen, making it important to include a restrictive clause.

Note that the restrictive clause does not necessarily need to be positioned immediately after the noun. This sort of clause is a non-restrictive clause.

There is one other important distinction between restrictive and non-restrictive clauses: commas are used to separate the non-restrictive clauses from the rest of the sentence.

Therefore, we use which and separate the non-restrictive clause with commas. In this example, because all human hearts have four valves, the descriptive clause does not provide necessary identifying information to the sentence. Here are the sentences that used that.

In the second sentence, changing to which causes the sentence to imply that Brad only has one sweater. Here, the sentence has changed to imply that the primary purpose of all laptops is gaming. For example:. On the other hand, use which with non-restrictive or non-defining clauses. These are clauses providing additional information about something that has already been identified in the context. In this use, which is always preceded by a comma and a comma is placed after the restrictive clause ends if the sentence continues.

When the clause is at the end of the sentence, only one comma is used, before which :. In this case, the clause which is hard to follow is descriptive, not restrictive i.

For these cases, which sounds more natural than that. Some grammarians extend the rule and insist on that being used only in restrictive clauses, while which should be used only in nonrestrictive clauses. The use of which with restrictive clauses is fairly common, even in edited prose. However, the American Psychological Association APA , in its 6th edition Manual, recommends adhering to the rule and use that for all restrictive clauses.

In non-defining clauses, use which. Remember, which is as disposable as a sandwich bag. If you can remove the clause without destroying the meaning of the sentence, the clause is nonessential and you can use which. Grammar What Are Modal Verbs?

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