What is the difference between “which” and “that”? There is a difference, even if you might not have realized it. Read on to learn more about when you should use each of these terms.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThat<\/a>\u201d is a pronoun or determiner used to refer to a specific person or thing. For instance, you might say, \u201cEvery movie that she recommends is depressing\u201d or \u201cNow that we\u2019ve gone to the beach, my summer bucket list is complete.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n Similarly, \u201cwhich<\/a>\u201d is also a pronoun or determiner. Like \u201cthat\u201d, it can be used to identify a person or information about them, such as in the sentence, \u201cThe Great Depression, which began in 1929, is widely believed to be the worst financial crisis in American history.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n However, \u201cwhich\u201d also has other uses, including as a question word that can identify a single object from a larger group. For instance, you might say, \u201cWhich movie was your favorite again?\u201d or \u201cI can\u2019t remember, which house is Sarah\u2019s?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n The big difference between \u201cthat\u201d and \u201cwhich\u201d is the type of clause<\/a> they appear in. \u201cThat\u201d is used in restrictive<\/a> clauses, while \u201cwhich\u201d is used in nonrestrictive<\/a> clauses, per Merriam Webster. <\/p>\n\n\n\n A restrictive clause is a clause that is necessary<\/a> for the sentence to have meaning, per Dictionary.com. Looking at the above example of \u201cEvery movie that she recommends is depressing,\u201d if we were to remove the clause \u201cthat she recommends,\u201d the sentence would have a completely different meaning. (And additionally would no longer be true: not every <\/em>movie is depressing.) That makes this phrase a restrictive clause.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Then look at the above example for \u201cwhich\u201d: \u201cThe Great Depression, which began in 1929, is widely believed to be the worst financial crisis in American history.\u201d While the cause \u201cwhich began in 1929\u201d adds further context and information to the sentence, it doesn\u2019t alter what the noun is referring to, so it doesn\u2019t substantively change what is being said. That means it’s a nonrestrictive clause, per Dictionary.com.<\/p>\n\n\n\n If you\u2019re struggling to figure out when to use \u201cthat\u201d vs. \u201cwhich,\u201d there’s a simple method to determine which term is best. Just try cutting the clause entirely from your sentence. If the clause is removed, does the sentence still have the same meaning? Or are you saying something else entirely? If the meaning has changed without the clause, then it\u2019s a restrictive clause, and you should use \u201cthat.\u201d On the other hand, if the sentence still means more or less the same thing, it\u2019s a nonrestrictive clause and you should use \u201cwhich.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Another key you can look for is the existence of commas. This isn\u2019t a hard and fast rule, so don\u2019t use it as strict guidance. But, generally speaking, nonrestrictive clauses will be separated out from the rest of the sentence by two commas, one at the beginning of the clause and one at the end. On the other hand, restrictive clauses will not be separated out. If you\u2019re ever looking to fill in the blank on a report, or trying to figure out if a word you\u2019ve written looks right in the context, commas can provide key context clues.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Test your knowledge with our quiz below. Simply fill in the blank, determining whether the correct answer is \u201cthat\u201d or \u201cwhich.\u201d Then check your answers using our answer key.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Brushing up on your English grammar? Be sure to check out some of our other grammar-related blog posts, including our post on Affect vs. Effect<\/a> and Color vs. Colour.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" What is the difference between “which” and “that”? There is a difference, even if you might not have realized it….<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":1639,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_is_featured":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[75,17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1571","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-grammar","category-words"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thewordfinder.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1571","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thewordfinder.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thewordfinder.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thewordfinder.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/11"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thewordfinder.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1571"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.thewordfinder.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1571\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1572,"href":"https:\/\/www.thewordfinder.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1571\/revisions\/1572"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thewordfinder.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1639"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thewordfinder.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1571"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thewordfinder.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1571"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thewordfinder.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1571"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}} \u201cWhich\u201d meaning<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
When to use That vs. Which<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Tips on when to use That vs. Which<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Quiz<\/strong> on That vs. Which<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
\n
Answer Key<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
\n
Other Grammar Resources<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n