student asking question

As a relative pronoun, what's the main difference between "that" and "which?" How do I distinguish the role of these words?

teacher

Native speaker’s answer

Rebecca

Generally speaking, "that" is used for defining clauses; information that is essential to the sentence. "Which" is used with "non-defining" clauses; "which" provides extra information. Although, here, "that" is used as a determiner to refer back to the previous clause, which you wouldn't do with "which." Ex: The house that sold last month is back on the market. Ex: The house which I really liked is already sold. = The house is already sold.

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