Re: That wicked "which"

On 06/02/2025 12:00, Stefan Ram wrote:

Back in the '80s, Donald E. Knuth was all about his students using "that" for restrictive clauses and "which" for non-restrictive ones.

He's not alone: I remember one of my teachers in college getting cross when people didn't use the words his way (which was different :-)

Turns out, "which" is like a rare Pokemon in spoken English, but it's
the go-to choice in written English in the UK.
 Meanwhile, "that" is the bread and butter of spoken English and the
top dog in written American English.

I think those are now historical curiosities which you can ignore.
I think those are now historical curiosities that you can ignore.
I would find "which" to be very common in spoken British English, but my standards, which you may disagree with, are probably different to others'.

But for native speakers, it's probably cool to trust their gut if there's no chance of things getting lost in translation . . .

Probably the best advice.
Peter