View Single Post
  #2 (permalink)  
Old 07-Jun-2007, 13:13
Casiopea's Avatar
Casiopea Casiopea is offline
VIP Member
 
Join Date: Sep 2003
Country: Canada
Posts: 12,997
Current Location: China
First Language: English
Thanks: 0
Thanked 21 Times in 21 Posts
Casiopea is on a distinguished road
Default Re: What is the difference usage between them?

Welcome, dutich.

In North American English, that is used for retrictive clauses (it restricts the meaning of the noun it modifies), whereas which is used for non-restrictive clauses (it doesn't restrict the meaning of the noun it modifies). For example,
[1] A suitcase that has no handles is useless.
A restrictive clause is an essential part of the sentence it sits within. Omit it and the sentence changes in meaning:
[2] A suitcase is useless. <Are suitcases really useless?>
A non-restrictive clause is not an essential part of the sentence it sits within. Omit it and the sentence doesn't change in meaning, because which means by the way:
[3] The broken suitcase, which (by the way) also has no handles, is useless.
Now, let's omit the non-restrictive clause:
[4] The broken suitcase is useless.
The sentence's core meaning doesn't change.


Does that help so far?

Try here also, World Wide Words: Which versus that
Reply With Quote