How to use WHICH and THAT

That vs. Which

The general rule is to use THAT before a restrictive clause and use WHICH before everything else.

A clause is restrictive if it’s a part of a sentence that you can’t remove without affecting the meaning of the sentence.

But a non-restrictive clause can be left out without changing the sentence’s meaning. Non-restrictive clauses are just additional, non-essential, information that is usually surrounded by commas.

For example:

• “Dogs that bark a lot bother me”. (restrictive)
• “Dogs, which can be small, bother me when they bark”. (non-restrictive)

So, use THAT if removing the clause changes the sentence’s meaning. Use WHICH is removing the clause doesn’t change the meaning of the sentence.

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