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ImageSMART TALK

By Dr. Will S. Sert



THAT or WHICH? At the Institute for the Linguistically Impaired, we teach the difference between that and which in a word pairs course for advanced patients. It attracts large crowds. We usually use Strunk Hall, which houses our auditorium, because this is a point of grammar that schools cover poorly.

To the assembled multitude, we first offer a mnemonic device: "No naked whiches." They must have clothes, meaning commas. Any series of words starting with "which" must have a comma before "which" and a comma or end punctuation after the series. See the example in the first paragraph.

If you don't pause as if you're thinking of parentheses around the words, then use "that" and don't insert commas. Again, see the example in the first paragraph.

Think this is nit picking? Your choice of "that" or "which" can change your meaning. "I saw five birds that were robins" means you saw who knows how many birds, and five of them were robins.

"I saw five birds, which were robins" means that you saw exactly five birds, all of them robins. See? It makes a difference.

Ironically, the Brits are particularly weak at keeping this straight and tend to use "which" nakedly to an embarrassing degree. I feel bad for them.

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