"Which" and "that"

[Beverly Flanigan]

The is exactly the rule I learned and still follow.  The non-restrictive
"which" comes naturally to most NSs of English, in my experience, until
they hypercorrect in writing (messed up by the punctuation problem, as
Arnold said).  But NNSs have a dickens of a time with the distinction;
they've been taught to simplify the learning burden by using "that"
everywhere, in place of "who/whom/which" (NS teachers and books try to
teach the difference between restrictive and nonrestrictive clauses, I'm
sure, but NNS teachers may themselves not know the rule).  As a result, I
often get nonrestrictive "that" in foreign students' writing.

Beverly

At 10:51 AM 5/13/2005, you wrote:
>I did not always pay attention to the rule until I got into law school.
>I suspect that court cases are sometimes decided based upon the rule, but
>a sane approach is that is the U of Del ELI Grammar Hotline:
>
>---
>Q. Which of the following uses is correct (and why)? The sentence comes
>from a limitations statement from a warranty document. Sometimes I think
>legal writers use words incorrectly because the correct word sound too
>common.
>
>The owner may also have other rights which vary from state to state.
>The owner may also have other rights that vary from state to state.
>
>A. They are both correct. You can use either that or which in restrictive
>relative clauses that refer to inanimate nouns. The clause "which (that)
>vary from state to state" is a restrictive clause because the information
>in the clause is essential to the understanding of rights.
>
>If the relative clause, though, is non-restrictive, only "which" can be
>used as the relative pronoun. The relative clause in the following
>sentence is non-restrictive because the information in the clause is not
>needed to identify the Lincoln Memorial. Using "that" in sentence 2 is not
>possible.
>
>The Lincoln Memorial, which is located in Washington D.C., attracts
>millions of visitors each year.
>*The Lincoln Memorial, that is located in Washington D.C., attracts
>millions of visitors each year.
>
>See http://www.udel.edu/eli/questions/g11.html.
>
>Bethany