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Hi questions. How do you differentiate between the usage of "which" and "that" on the test? They both look very similiar to me.

By Yoyomama04 (Yoyomama04) on Friday, April 30, 2004 - 10:10 pm: Edit

I'm typing this verbatim from my Grammar Smart book, so hopefully I won't get busted for copyright violation!! ;-)

That can refer to people, animals and things.

Which can not refer to people.

That and which are often misused. If your relative clause is a defining clause (also called a restrictive clause) that is the better choice. A defining clause limits the group being defined; we are meant to think only of part of the group, instead of the whole. An example:

Dogs that have three legs can learn to hop quickly.

Dogs, which can be trained to do nearly anything, love to work and to play.

There are a couple more paragraphs further explaining those two examples, but if you have that book it's on pages 33-34.

Hope this helps...

By Whtx (Whtx) on Friday, April 30, 2004 - 10:14 pm: Edit

Do you write the essay in pen or pencil?

By Yoyomama04 (Yoyomama04) on Friday, April 30, 2004 - 10:27 pm: Edit

Pencil, I believe.