‘Which’ is a ‘wh’ word and people often think that it is only used while asking a question. But that’s not true. It is one of the most grammatically confusing words used in English language, despite being so common. While asking a question, you can use it like this:
‘Which city you are moving to?’
However, it is often used interchangeably with ‘that’ and ‘who’, but there are certain rules you need to follow. It’s confusion with ‘that’ is most common when it is used as a determiner. To understand how to use the word ‘which’ in a sentence, oneHOWTO looks at all its different uses and explains when and when it is not needed.
Contents
- Restrictive and non-restrictive relative clauses
- Using ‘which’ in a question
- Using ‘which’ in a relative clause
- Use ‘which’ or ‘who’
- Use of ‘which’ with ‘of’
- Use of ‘which’ to avoid repetitions
Restrictive and non-restrictive relative clauses
If you are confused about using ‘which’ or ‘that’ in a sentence, you need to understand the differences between the restrictive and non-restrictive relative clauses.
For example:
‘I ate the chicken that was spoiled’
In this example, the word ‘that’ has introduced a restrictive relative clause. This means the clause contains important information about the noun that follows. If you decide to rule out this kind of clause, you may affect the meaning of the sentence and sometimes it may not make any sense at all.
In British English, ‘which’ can be used interchangeably with a restrictive ‘that’. Like ‘I ate the chicken which was spoiled’. This kind of sentence structure may be correct, but it is not normally used in formal forms of writing.
Another type of relative clause is the non-restrictive relative clause. This type of clause may have extra information you might leave out without affecting the structure or meaning of the sentence.
For instance ‘I ate spoiled chicken, which made me ill’
In this kind of sentence, if you leave the clause, you may have less information but that doesn’t affect the its structure. ‘I ate spoiled chicken’ is a complete sentence in itself. Note that the non-restrictive relative clause often has a comma which sets off the extra information, while the restrictive clause does not have a comma which makes the information essential.
Using ‘which’ in a question
The word ‘which’ is used in questions as an interrogative pronoun and determiner. You may use it while asking for some specific information, such as ‘which car are we going in?’ ‘Which’ can also be used in indirect statements and questions. For example, ‘find out which book he is reading at present’. Both ‘which’ and ‘what’ can be used to ask questions. ‘Which’ is used when the question has a restricted range of answers and ‘what’ is used when there is no limitation to the possible answers.
Note the difference:
For instance, what is your favorite color?
Which is your favorite color? Red or pink?
The first sentence asks about the favorite color of the person, which can be any color on the palette. There are no limitations to the answer. But in the second sentence, the person is given two choices, red and pink, and they have to choose between these two options only. This means that the answer has limitations and ‘which’ would be the correct word to use.
Using ‘which’ in a relative clause
Relative clause is a clause that starts with a relative pronoun who, which, that, where, when or whose.
- It is most often used for identifying or defining a noun that precedes it. For instance, ‘do you know the girl who is wearing the red skirt?’
- ‘Which’ is a relative clause that we can use to refer to an animal or to a thing. For example, ‘we have brought many changes which will bring success to the business’
- We can also use ‘which’ in order to introduce some relative clause while referring to a whole sentence or clause. Like ‘she ate a whole plate of noodles, which was because she was hungry’
- ‘Which’ is often used with prepositions. In formal style of writing, a preposition is used before ‘which’ in order to prevent it from ‘hanging’ by the sentence’s end. For instance, formal style will use ‘there are many restaurants in which a variety of cuisines are offered’. This is instead of ‘there are many restaurants which a variety of cuisines are offered in’.
Use ‘which’ or ‘who’
The word ‘who’ refers to people, while ‘which’ refers to things. For instance, ‘I drew a card which was blank’. But most of the time, ‘which’ appears in a restrictive way. This restrictive form generally illustrates by using ‘that’ instead of ‘which’. The word ‘which’ is often reserved for non-restrictive functions. In that case, the information such a sentence provides is not required.
In the above example, it is important information that the card drawn was blank. In most cases, the word ‘who’ is used to refer to a person, but sometimes, ‘that’ can also be used, mainly in British English. But in formal writing, this use of ‘that’ is incorrect and people should be referred to by ‘who’ only.
Use of ‘which’ with ‘of’
Sometimes, we use ‘which’ followed by ‘of’. This kind of construction is often used which selecting a few among many. For instance, ‘which of the following options are correct?’ In this reference, a number of options are given and a person has to choose the correct one only.
Sometimes, ‘which one’ is also used, in which case you have to choose one among many. For instance, ‘which one are you talking about?’. There may be many things or people in front of you and you have to choose the one about which the speaker is talking. Although ‘which one’ can be used to choose among people, it is often used to choose among objects. For people, the correct sentence would be ‘whom you are talking about?’.
Use of ‘which’ to avoid repetitions
Sometimes, if you have already used ‘that’ in a sentence, you may choose to write ‘which’ in order to avoid repetition of the word ‘that’. For instance, ‘that which you cannot see’. In this sentence, ‘which’ is used because ‘that’ was already used and you cannot write two ‘that’ words in a sentence. Whether it is required or not, this kind of sentence is often constructed to avoid any awkward formations. ‘That that you cannot see’ is not technically incorrect, but the use of ‘which’ instead of a second ‘that’ is more preferable.
If you want to read similar articles to How To Use The Word ‘Which’ In A Sentence, we recommend you visit our Learning category.
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These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word ‘which.’ Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
This ultimate guide gives you a detailed look at differences and examples of which vs that, and gives you some important rules for how and when to correctly use them in sentences.
Everyone uses ‘which’ and ‘that’ every day for daily communication. But we tend to take these words for granted and just because these words are common it doesn’t mean they’re easy to use. To be very precise the clauses cause a lot of confusion, but we have found an easy way to remember which one to choose and where they should be used appropriately.
3 Important Rules to Remember where to use ‘that’ and ‘which’
- Always make sure you use ‘that’ in a defining clause.
- Use ‘which’ in non-defining clauses.
- Keep in mind, ‘which’ is a word that can be discarded when it is not essential to use in a sentence. If you wish to remove the clause without destroying the meaning of the sentence, you can use ‘which’.
Now, let’s see what the basic difference between the usage of ‘which’ and ‘that’.
Which vs. That: What’s the Difference?
To understand the rule of English grammar as when to use ‘that’ or ‘which’, it’s very important to understand clauses. So, by definition, a clause (also called an essential clause or a restrictive clause) gives information essential to the meaning of the sentence. The word ‘That’ is always used in defining clauses. Let’s understand better with an example:
My car that has a broken seat is in the backyard.
In the above sentence, you can get the clarity that the speaker has at least one other car. The car he’s talking about is distinguished from his other car by its broken seat. If here you try to remove the clause “that has a broken seat,” you would lose all the implication that he owns more than one bicycle, and even if you somehow knew about the other cars, you wouldn’t know which one was in the garage.
Sentence Examples using “That”
Let’s see some more examples using ‘that’ :
- The stick that I threw hit the bleachers.
- My dirt cycle that is green goes really fast.
- It was her that told me.
- Look at that waterfall.
- I will do that job.
- I am annoyed with the dog that keeps barking.
With this understanding, now we can move over to the word ‘which’.
‘Which’ is a word that introduces non-defining clauses. Unlike the defining clauses, a non-defining clause does not limit the meaning of the sentence. You may sometimes lose interesting details if you remove them, but the meaning of the sentence wouldn’t change.
Sentence Examples using “which”
Let’s see the same example with the usage of the word ‘which’.
- My car, which has a broken seat, is in the backyard.
Few more examples just to give you a clear picture of how ‘which’ is used.
- The car, which is already out of gas, now has a flat tire.
- This is the camera which I bought yesterday.
- The situation in which you put us is very critical.
- The college from which you graduated is very prestigious.
Hope you can see the difference between how the word “that” and the word “which” work in a sentence? If you look at the word “which” you can see how the phrase starting with “which …” provides an additional information.
To understand when to use that and when to use which, it’s important to keep in mind the difference between restrictive and nonrestrictive clauses. In formal American English, that is used in restrictive clauses, and which is used in nonrestrictive clauses. Not sure what that means? Let’s find out!
How to use that vs. which
A restrictive clause contains information that limits the meaning of a noun and is necessary in a sentence. For example, in the sentence Any book that you like must be good, the clause that you like is restrictive because it identifies which book: the one that you like.
Take a look at the meaning of the sentence if the clause is removed: any book must be good. Without the clause, the meaning of the sentence is altered, and therefore, the clause is needed.
Note that in restrictive clauses, sometimes that can be omitted. Any book you like must be good is also often used, especially in informal settings.
Examples sentences using that
In the following sentences, the precise meaning is altered if each restrictive clause is removed:
- The song that you performed right before intermission is my favorite.
- I think I finally caught a glimpse of the bird that is building a nest in the window.
- Do you remember the name of the book that Carla recommended to us?
These grammar rules can really have a dizzying effect … or is it “affect”? Find out the difference, here.
A nonrestrictive clause, on the other hand, is used to supply additional information that is not essential to understanding the main point of the sentence. Consider this example: The book, which I found at a dusty used bookstore, was a real page-turner. The clause which I found at a dusty used bookstore is nonrestrictive because it adds extra information, almost like an aside. You could delete the details about the bookstore, and the sentence would still make sense. In this example, which is preceded by a comma; nonrestrictive clauses tend to follow punctuation like a comma, a dash, or parenthesis. Which is only used in restrictive clauses if it is preceded by a preposition.
Example sentences using which
In these examples, the information provided by each nonrestrictive clause is not essential.
- This sandwich, which has my favorite pickles, is delicious!
- Juan’s birthday party, which was going to be held at the park, has been postponed.
- These pairs of pants, which no longer fit me, should be given away.
How to remember whether to use that or which
Luckily there’s an easy way to remember whether to use that or which. If the relative clause contains information that is not essential to the meaning of the sentence, and is also preceded by a comma, a dash, or parenthesis, it’s probably nonrestrictive, so use which. If not, odds are it’s restrictive, so use that.
However, the above distinction is a rule of formal American English, and is not as strictly observed in British English or in informal English of any type.