Which or That Relative Clauses for Beginners Basic English Grammar

hi everybody my name is Alisha today I’m

going to talk about the difference
between witch and that witch and that

are both relative pronouns but a lot of
people confuse the two so let’s talk

about how to use them okay first a quick
overview which first we use witch in

what are called non restrictive relative
clauses we use that on the other hand in

restrictive relative clauses so before
we continue let’s talk about the

difference between non restrictive
clauses and restrictive clauses the

difference here a non-restrictive clause
first of all where we use which is a

clause that does not have information
essential to understanding the noun it

is connected to I’ll show you some
examples in just a minute

a restrictive clause however is a clause
that has information essential to our

understanding of that noun so we need
the information in the restrictive

Clause to completely understand the noun
or the noun phrase it is attached to a

non-restrictive clause is sort of extra
information we don’t need the

information to understand the noun or
the noun phrase it just provides some

more information so let’s take a look at
a few examples of this the first example

I have is rather extreme but it’s just
to show the differences between these

two first the school that I parked my
car next to is dangerous so here my noun

is school here I’ve got the relative
pronoun that I have the school that I

parked my car next to is dangerous I’ve
used that here because my Clause is a

restrictive clause I need this
information the school that I parked my

car next to is dangerous if I remove
this the school is dangerous the

sentence is correct however the meaning
changes the key here is that I parked my

car there so I want to explain that
specifically the school that I parked my

car next to
this school in particular is dangerous

so that shows us that it’s a restrictive
clause we have to use that in this

sentence because the information is
essential to our understanding in this

sentence however the school which has a
tennis court is dangerous I’ve used

which so which is a non-restrictive is
used in non restrictive clauses this

shows us it is extra information
the school has a tennis court do I need

to know this information no it’s just
extra information if I remove this

clause the school is dangerous the root
sentence the basic sentence stays the

same this is just extra information
it doesn’t necessarily tell us essential

information about the situation so we
use which to show that it’s a non

restrictive relative clause as I said
this is a rather extreme example so

let’s take a look at something that’s a
little bit more complex okay let’s look

at the next two sentences first the car
which I bought last year is already

having trouble and the car that I bought
last year is already having trouble

these are very similar sounding
sentences

however our choice of which or that as
well as the commas which I’ll talk about

later have changed the meaning so there
are a couple key differences here one by

seeing that in the first sentence that
we’re using a non restrictive clause

here with which we see the car which I
bought last year this shows us that this

is extra information about the car here
however we see that this is essential

information the car that I bought last
year is already having trouble so the

speaker could be saying here with this
sentence the second sentence the car

that I bought last year specifically a
car that the speaker purchased the

previous year this sentence means
therefore the speaker might have other

cars the speaker is specifically meaning
this specific car that they he or she

bought last year in this sentence with
the non restrictive clause we don’t have

the same nuance the car which I bought
last year is just ex

information in this sentence so here the
car that I bought last year this is

indicating a specific car this one with
the non restrictive clause it’s just

giving us extra information so the
speaker may or may not have another car

we don’t know so that’s all I want to
say about that okay but a question that

many people have is how do you know
whether it’s a restrictive or a

non-restrictive clause so this is a
quick tip a quick hint for native

speakers and non-native speakers
actually it’s a restrictive non

restrictive how do I know to do that
remove the clause just take the clause

out of the sentence is the meaning of
the sentence the same is the sentence

still grammatically correct is it okay
if yes if the sentence is okay the

meaning is the same
it’s a non-restrictive clause if no if

the meaning changes if you lose some key
information it is a restrictive clause

so this is a quick hint if you’re not
sure whether she use which or whether to

use that try this test as quick test
just take it out and see if the meaning

changes the last thing I want to talk
about here is the use of commas so

you’ll notice I used commas throughout
this lesson and also when I was reading

they kind of create a natural pause
around this extra information but when

do you use them we should use commas
around non-restrictive clauses so you

can see I used them here and here in the
example sentences we use commas around

non-restrictive clauses only again this
lesson , which is being recorded comma

is about which and that so when you’re
reading it creates a natural pause so

the reader knows there’s going to be
like extra information there the reader

can understand through use of these
commas however do not use commas around

restrictive clauses for example the
lesson that I just taught was about how

to use which and that this is a
restrictive clause so I mean

specifically this lesson that I just
taught was about how to use which and

that I should not include commas here
because I’m not including any extra

information all of the information is
it’s the same with all of the other

example sentences I used in this lesson
there are no commas included because all

of the information is essential the
reader needs to understand everything in

one piece you can think of it that way
okay so that’s an overview of the

differences between which and that
restrictive clauses as well and a couple

of comma tips too so I hope that this
was a useful lesson for you if you have

any questions of course please feel free
to let us know in the comments if you

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thanks very much for watching and I will
see you again soon