Why does grammar check make such a confusing distinction between "that" and "which"? What's the difference in usage?

Only about 10 people in the English-speaking world care, but it does give you a leg up.

I could blather on, but "that" is used as a restrictive pronoun and "which" as a non-restrictive one and the clause that it starts, which is clear when read, should be separated by commas (see previous clause).

Just Google "that which grammar" and you will get endless riffs. If you are writing something elegant or want to show off, differentiating can be mildly amusing. Chicago Book of Style or Strunk & White discuss this, which is fun for purists. (That non-restrictive clause may be removed from the previous sentence w/o changing primary meaning.)

I assume you've read "Eats, Shoots, and Leaves"? If not, hop to it (You'll get that pun if you know the joke the title is based upon...)!

Actually, in my late-night paper-writing, I've just confused a panda with a bunny...never mind that! But the book is fabulous.

Oh, yes, screaming w. laughter so hard that I could barely focus. Are you a student? Have you read any of David Foster Wallace? He is a master of how to arm-wrestle the language to the mat.

I'm a senior at Washington University in St. Louis--haven't read, but have heard lots about, Wallace. Are you a teacher?

I am most famous for being Ben's aunt. Have taught (French) and have written non-fiction and spent years doing college counselling at a Quaker School in Phila. The student essays I read (and read and read) did force me to sharpen my writing skills. If anyone is looking for an insomnia cure, snoring over college application essays will fix it. What are you majoring in? And are you supposed to be writing a paper now instead of fluthering? Get back to work, or better still, go to sleep, get up early and have a good breakfast. Do you know Prof. Dent at Art Museum? His wife is a bud of mine.

I'm taking an intensive Intro to French class next semester--part of my plan to be a near-to-perfect grammarian: being able to pronounce all of the French words that have found their way into our English vocabulary without sounding (and feeing) silly! What non-fiction have you written? Only have to write my conclusion, then I can close the books on this one! Is Prof. Dent at the Wash U Art Museum?

more later; Just had floor at computer repolyed...too inconvenient to reach keyboard.Prof.Dent was head of Wash U Art Museum. May have retired. Next time, I'll send the lip and tongue hint on the perfect way in which to pronounce the French "u." du, vu, etc. That separates the men from the boys also, Speaking of which, are you male or female? And congrats for using "that" correctly in last message :-)

Hold you mouth in an exaggerated position to say, "Oh," but say "eeee" instead. You get the perfect "u" as in deja vu."

I have written for school newspapers, and bulletins, probably about 800 college recommendations, when I was working at a Friends' School and various oddments and online stuff for my college listserv. Small potatoes, but fun.

According to _Woe is I_ (an awesome grammar book!), the difference is this: If you can drop the clause that "that" or "which" begins with and the sentence still makes sense, use "which." If you need the clause to have the whole sentence make sense, use "that." For example, "Nobody likes a dog that bites." 'That' is correct here; without its clause, the sentence would simply say, "Nobody likes a dog," and the sentence loses its meaning. However, in the sentence "Buster's bulldog, which had one white ear, won best in show," you can drop the "which" clause and still get the main gist of the sentence: "Buster's bulldog won best in show." Also, commas precede a which, but not a that.

Good examples, Schmoo. "which has one white ear" is a non-restrictive clause, and as you said, may be removed w/o changing primary meaning..Very few writers pay attention to this nowadays..New York Review of Books, Atlantic, Harpers, New Yorker and their ilk still try to keep the bar high, but most pretty-good writers don't differentiate, which is too bad.

I don't recognize Prof. Dent's name, but I'll ask in my Art History class tomorrow. I'm a female. Practicing my perfect "u" as I type...

Dent is my friend's maiden name. Her husband is Mark Weil (sorry). He was running the Wash. U Gallery of Art and may have retired. His wife is an amazing expert of the study, practice and teaching of historic painting techniques...doing seminars at the St. Louis Art Museum. If you are interested in how Rembrandt made his pigments, palettes, canvasses, inks and brushes, check out Phoebe Weil's courses. Extraordinary stuff. I've seen the seminar at Smith College and she will present it at

The Clark Art Museum in Wmstown, MA., next spring. Pourvu que tu as du temps libre. What's yr major? Perhaps we should take this private?

gailcald@taconic.net

Because Microsoft isn't exactly the world's greatest grammarian.

The rule I learned when deciding between that and which:
If you can use ‘that’ and it makes sense then it’s the correct choice.
Some well-stated grammar advice here illuminates the distinction between a restrictive clause and an unrestrictive clause and how that should guide the use of ‘that’ and ‘which’.