That versus which | The parts of speech | Grammar | Khan Academy

[@LifeAsANoun]

Objection! "The woman, who boarded the plane..." illustrates the real issue, imo. "Don't open that door..." can be a question, statement, or an answer. "Don't open which door..." can only be a question. 'Which' either poses a question, or answers one posited elsewhere within a dialogue (implied, or elsewise). Usage of 'that' seems to add an impersonal distance to a subject (from the writer's perspective). It seems to be more so geared to dehumanizing when applied to beings/the action of beings. 'That' is often seen being used to replace 'who', or 'whom' -- which is the actual issue (which also serves to exemplify when each of the two words are best fit/placed within a sentence). "That person..." = way over there. "Which person..." = of these in the immediate locale. 'That' is distant, non-human, cold, impersonal, non-sentient. 'Which' is humanizing, personal, warm, personifying. "A person that writes well." -- um. "A person which writes well." -- no. "A person who writes well." -- yes. vs. "A machine that prints perfectly." -- yes. "A machine which prints perfectly." -- meh. "A machine who prints perfectly." -- no. vs. "Find a name that isn't offensive." -- okay. "Find a name which isn't offensive." -- yes. "Find a name who isn't offensive." -- no. vs. "Find a person that isn't offensive." -- um. "Find a person which isn't offensive." -- no. "Find a person who isn't offensive." -- yep. See? It seems the real issue is more so between improperly using either 'that' or 'which' in place of 'who'; whereas usage of either really depends on if it's personified/dehumanized, warm/cold, or used to support an in-group/out-group distinction.

[@sunitapardeshi5537]

I am glad to learn about this topic that is under debate for a long time. I could never be sure why it always confused me. This makes sense. Thanks, Khan Academy.

[@feetjiefit6353]

omg he explains things so well i passed my exam with a 96%

[@janesmith9215]

thank you this helped me get my school work up

[@mario712145]

So basically it's not incorrect from a grammatical stand point to use "that" in the place of "which" or vice versa. It's just a matter of which sounds better. Thanks for the informative video!

[@munnasheikh8188]

Wow! Your handwriting is awesome and the drawing of the wicked witch is wowww .... Seems like you are a cartoonist or comic artist 🤓🤪

[@bonbonpony]

Descriptivists don't say that "there are no rules" - they believe in the rules, but they also believe that such rules have to be discovered by analysing the language as used by people, not "sent from above by Grammar gods" for us mere mortals to follow. They analyze how people use the language and then try to figure out what the rules are and why are they that particular way and not another. How can we tell that some sentence is "ungrammatical" and another is correct. As for "that" vs. "which", I would say that "which" should be used if we are presented with a limited set of equivalent options to choose from (which one of these you choose?), and "that" is used when we want to point at a particular instance out of a multitude of others, possibly uncountable or unspecified.

[@zombiedude347]

5:16. Both "The dog that I saw ... " and "The dog which I saw ..." are weird to me. Normally constructions like that in the passive tense get contracted to something like "The dog I saw"

[@nikalobjanidze5302]

yeah, for me it is something unfamiliar either... :)

[@FASTTITANTVMAN3.0]

nice bro i like it

[@mohammadirfankhan7159]

Thanks for the clarification! I just wanted a clarification on this sentence: The assignment is all about selecting the correct words, which is great. My question is, is the comma needed here? What are the rules governing this type of comma?

[@jonahkane7027]

Mohammad Irfan Khan I believe you are wrong in using a comma. You should instead you a colon

[@fandoniafandon9061]

Mmm I think a colon wouldn’t be appropriate. I think a comma or a dash would be the right the right option.

[@alexalandres399]

David, were you referring to the non-restrictive clause when you said '... does not preclude the idea that there might have been a non-orange, non-tasty carrot involved somewhere else?' And thanks for your videos. I'm learning a tremendous amount from them and I love them. Also, you often sound like you're imitating Mr. Mike Birbiglia's humor, which is a plus.

[@くまそん-s8o]

thank you.ありがとう。

[@muhammadisaac07]

Prescriptivists versus descriptivists

[@fusiontv5269]

3:35

[@vineetmakwana226]

Thanks you sir👍👍

[@พันธุ์ศักดิ์ศิริเลิศ]

Thank you.

[@williamwhitejr.5379]

Which people are you referring to? That was intentional, by the way. That is to say, I meant what I wrote when I wrote it. Which is also to say...I am having WAY too much damn fun with this, LMAO Which isn't bad...

[@melvillefernando7095]

That was wicked!

[@fluffypanda6710]

4:13 sound like which is another word👀👀 Edit: especially when he says “cranky witch”

[@rangerpot1026]

honest question tho as someone trying to learn always what about ( that of which I desire.) is that proper?

[@ludwigvanbeethoven8164]

THIS IS GOOD

[@alexam87]

What about number (singular/plural)? I mean, "which" to talk about one thing among others... Is that a difference between them?

[@-SUM1-]

3:52 No, number 2 doesn't work. It sounds as bad as number 3.

[@claudiavelazquez248]

What program is being used to write while talking? or what tools are you using?

[@emanmoustafa2682]

Up

[@emanmoustafa2682]

Up

[@muhammadisaac07]

That doesn't like comma and which is bad with people

[@maskthelegend317]

Which word do people hate

[@ssd4212]

Make a video in hindi

[@bluestratton3791]

Who was talking in the background because i heard some wired things CUL8R

[@bluestratton3791]

See u L8r

[@theolivebeanissus3425]

Attention, prescriptivists, and descriptivists! And lo, I'm both!

[@pugy2000]

the carrot sentence makes no sense to me, shouldn't it be "the orange carrot was tasty" i know they were trying to think of a sentence for their situation but still

[@clintpercefull9462]

The rules don't matter dude XD

[@salmansawer9682]

khan are u following american grammer