That & Which | wwword

How milliners talk when they talk about hats

Answers to the age-old question—which is which? And when?
1. The New York cafés that I hang out in are exclusive and hip. Like me.
2. The New York cafés, which I hang out in, are numerous and varied. Like my friends.

The difference
Sentence 1 focuses on a limited group of things—the select few NYC spots good enough for you to spend your precious time in. Sentence 2 is about the entire range of coffee-serving establishments in that city of eight million stories.

The secret
When you’re uncertain as to whether a sentence requires which or that, say it to yourself: if your meaning makes you want to pause and put in those commas before and after (like 2), it’s which. And if not, go with that.

And that’s that. Easy.

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Eric Hanson

* Which and that, used this way, are relative pronouns: stand-ins for a noun previously mentioned in a sentence. The difference: which is non-defining; that is defining. If you use which, you’re referring to everything that the noun it’s standing in for could possibly be composed of—no limits, or definition, of the meaning. If you use that, you’re specifying a particular part of the noun’s possibilities—defining an area. To simplify: which stands for all; that stands for one or some.

* If you’re an American who can’t help thinking all British people know more about grammar because they have lovely accents, feel good: British English is notoriously sloppy in this area—which shows up all over the place with no regard for that all-important definition factor. Fowler's Modern English Usage gets quite exercised about it.