Friday, October 7, 2011

Grammar Guide: That vs. Which

I'm back with more helpfulness, this time in the form of a grammar lesson.  I have been helping a friend edit content lately and it seems many people think that the word THAT is freely interchangeable with the word WHICH, which it surely is not. Of course, I am not a grammar expert, so don't give me shit on my grammar, thanks, but this visual might help someone (when writing NOT a humor blarg) where their grammar and diction need to be spot on.



Note that clauses that contain "which" are almost always set of by commas, whereas clauses that contain "that" are not.

For more technical information on why this is so, see this great explanation by Grammar Girl

6 comments:

  1. I can't think of any clever word play involving your grammar lesson, but you guys make a cute couple-that is one of the least menacing zombies I have ever seen

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  2. Thank you! I didn't realize that they were not in fact interchangeable. Silly me. One less thing to make me look stupid, now. Thx so much, JRose <3

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  3. You two can go to the Monster Mash!!!!

    Unfortunately, we aren't taught grammar anymore in school, it's something people are having to pick up as they go and hope for the best.

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  4. I wanted to learn the grammatical lesson of this post, but I can't get past the dancing with zombies part! Why, oh why, would anyone want to dance with a zombie?!?

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  5. Is there anything that zombies can not help us learn?

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  6. I think that's probably the best grammar lesson I've ever had. Zombies make it much more entertaining. And I'd actually been wondering about commas before which. Grammar was so long ago, it's starting to fade from my memory.

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