Re: facts v. history; which and that

On 4/28/98, Robert Joseph Honan <robertus[_at_]harbornet.com> wrote:
>
> Yes, but how about:
> "The room had one window, which overlooked the parking lot."
>
> differs in meaning from;
> "The room had one window that overlooked the parking lot."
>
> But:
> "The room had one window that overlooked the parking lot."
>
> is not too different from;
> "The room had one window which overlooked the parking lot."
>
>
> After all, both are only describing the nature one window.

The formal-type rule that Miss Bennett taught us in junior high was that "which" is for parentheticals: If you can take the phrase beginning with "that" or "which" out of the sentence and not change the sentence's meaning, it should be "which".

Fowler spends about four pages on the distinction between "that" and "which". Of course, as any linguist would tell you, if even native speakers of a language have to refer to a book to discern a rule, the rule isn't really part of the language.

Ari Kahan
<akahan[_at_]netcom.com>

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