The difference between the antecedent that and which

Situations when it is appropriate to use that in attributive clauses

(1) The antecedent is the indefinite pronoun all,

much,

something,

Everything, anything,

nothing,

none,

the

one, etc.

eg:

we

should

do

all

that< /p>

is

useful

to

the

people.

there

p>

is

nothing

that

i

want

to

say

to

you.

(2) The antecedent is every,

each,

few,

little,

no,

some,

all,< /p>

just,

the

only,

the

very,

the

Modified by words such as last.

eg:

i

have

finished

all

the< /p>

homework

that

my

teacher

asked

us

to

do.

he

is

the

very

man

that

the

police

is

looking

for.(It is the person the police are looking for.)

(3) When the antecedent is an ordinal number or is modified by an ordinal number.

eg:

when

we

talked

about

wuxi,

the

first

that

comes

into

mind

p>

is

tai

lake.

this

is

the

third

film

that

has

been

shown

our

school

this

term.

(4) The antecedent is the most When advanced or modified by the superlative.

eg:this

is

the

best

that

can

be

done

now.

the

most

important< /p>

thing

that

should

be

done

now

is

to

tell

him

the

truth.

(5) When the antecedent is a numeral.

eg:

i

caught

two

fish

yesterday.

now

you

can

see

the

two

two

p>

that

are

swimming

in

the

bowl.

(6) When the two juxtaposed antecedents represent people and things respectively.

eg:

the

writer

and

his

novel< /p>

that

you

have

just

talked

about

is

really

well

known.

(7) In a compound sentence, if there are two In the attributive clause, one of the relative pronouns has used which and who,

To avoid repetition, the other one has used that.

eg:

edison

built

up

a

factory< /p>

which

produced

things

that

had

never

been

seen

before.

(8) In special questions starting with who or which, in order to avoid repetition, use that.

eg:

who

is

the

boy

that< /p>

is

playing

basketball?

which

of

the

p>

pens

that

we

bought

is

yours?

(9) When the main clause has a there

be structure and the antecedent is a thing, the relative pronoun is that.

eg:

there

is

a

bird

that< /p>

is

still

alive.

Note: When the antecedent is a person, use who.

eg:

there

is

a

woman

who< /p>

wants

to

see

you.

(10) When the relative pronoun serves as the Slogan, and when the antecedent is a thing, use that.

eg:

my

hometown

is

no

longer< /p>

the

place

that

is

used

to

be.

Note:

But when the antecedent is a person, who can also be used.

eg:

he

isn't

the

boy

who/that

he

used

to

be.

But the antecedent is a thing In non-restrictive attributive clauses, since it cannot be introduced by that, which can be used at this time.

eg:she

was

fond

of

dancing

, which

her

brother

never

was.