I have been literally struggling to understand the caveat between which and that. you made my day and i mean it. I thank you from the bottom of my heart for such a crystal clear and precise explanation.
We're glad you found it :) And once you know it you probably won't forget! Here's a blog post you can keep for reference as well: magoosh.com/gmat/that-vs-which-on-the-gmat/
The concept is clear with the examples mentioned above. However, if complex long sentences are used, the 'vital' versus 'non vital' factor can become very confusing. For example- As a result of the explosion, every human being was bombarded by 100 billion neutrinos; fortunately, neutrinos are harmless elementary particles that/which are produced in nuclear reactions and that/which interact very weakly with matter. Why is one correct versus the other above?
Howdy MsSmile90! :D Great question! Happy to help! :D But let me as you a question first: is the example sentence you provided from a GMAT question? If it is not, then it's going to be less useful for preparing for the test. But, regardless, I think we can still tackle your sentence, using the same strategy I suggest in the video. Can we remove those phrases from the sentence and still maintain the core meaning of the sentence? So, does this sentence still convey all the necessary information that the original one you wrote: -- "As a result of the explosion, every human being was bombarded by 100 billion neutrinos; fortunately, neutrinos are harmless elementary particles." I think the answer is yes. The sentence hasn't lost any vital meaning. The core idea is still there: humans are bombarded by neutrinos and they are harmless. Everything else is a nice to have and adding extra information. So I'd think the sentence should be written with "which" and not "that." Does that make sense? I hope that helps! :D
It was an official GMAT question, without the 'fluff'. Here is the original sentence from the Official mock test I took- As a result of a supernova explosion, every human being on Earth was bombarded on February 23, 1987, by about 100 billion neutrinos; fortunately, neutrinos are harmless elementary particles that are produced in nuclear reactions and that interact very weakly with matter. I selected a choice with which, but it happens to be wrong and the one with 'that' has been marked correct by the website. Thanks for your response :) Magoosh has been a vital part of my GMAT journey.
Thanks for providing more information here. That actually helps me to see why we'd like to choose that. The first part of the sentence that you left out "As a result of a supernova explosion" provides more information in the sentence that would indicate that the phrases are more vital to the sentence. Also, I looked over the answer choices for this question and your first consideration should be parallelism-not choosing between that and which. And the option that uses "which" could potentially work in this sentence, but the second "which" needs to have a comma before it. I think this might've been the one you chose. We'd need to toss this one out due to the missing comma. :D Glad that Magoosh is helping! Happy studying! :D
Kevin how to decide weather a part in restrictive or not.Do we have understand the intent and meaning to decide the usage of that or which.In example of ipods how to make a certain choice between that or which
Great question! :D You will need to determine if the information is vital to the meaning of the sentence, so that means you have to decide what the core idea of the sentence is and make a decision about what is vital to conveying that meaning. On the GMAT, this will be challenging, but it should be unambiguous if something is vital to a sentence. The example of ipods is not as clear as it could be. Whether or not a "that" or "which" should be used is a little more ambiguous and doesn't quite meet the rigor of the GMAT. That's my fault. Sorry about that. Hope this helps! :D Happy studying!
+Roohi Zainab this is tough! The change in meaning is very subtle. And the changing in meaning has to do with where we put the emphasis. Really, we are either talking about "the iPod" and the price is secondary information, or we are talking a "the iPod that sold for $399." Does that help?
Does "that" only modify previous noun ? Example OG question - Foraging at all times of the day and night, but interspersing their feeding with periods of rest that last between one and eight hours, a sperm whale could eat so much as a ton of squid a day. Here that refers to periods isn't it???
Hi Rahul! This is a very insightful question-and an important one to master for the GMAT. You are correct! In the example sentence, "that" is modifying the noun phrase: "periods of rest." If one adhere strictly to the touch rule, they would assume that it's modifying "rest." But that is wrong since "rest" is contained within a prepositional phrase which modifies "periods." Great question and happy studying! :D
Hi @@jabhatta , Great question! :D If you are looking at a sentence and it has a prepositional phrase, you can safely assume "that" is referring to the whole preposition-not the object of the preposition. Think of the whole preposition as one whole chunk of meaning-it's a self-contained unit or building block. So "that" can't refer to only part of the block. It must refer to the whole block of meaning. Feel free to share an example of a sentence where you think "that" is referring to the object of the preposition.
hi Kevin. I have a question. Does “She stopped me from going ahead with the plan, which was really bad” mean that it was really bad that she stopped me, or does it mean that the plan was really bad? (Obviously if I’d used ‘that’ instead of ‘which’ it would be clear that it was the plan that was bad). thanks and regards
Dear Kevin, I've a doubt I would love for you to clarify. In the first sentence "In 2001, Apple released THE iPod that sold for $399." Would replacing THE iPod, with AN iPod impact how we assess the sentence. Couldn't the word AN make the state NON-Restrictive ?
Hii,Thanks for an awesome video,but I do have a questions to ask In this video in 2 example "In 2001, apple released the i pod, which sold for $399." Now what i have read so far is that anything that comes between the 2 commas is mostly irrelevant, so according to this if we remove the phrase between the commas,the sentence would be "In 2001 which sold for $399." which doesn't have any meaning so, could you please explain me how is this sentence correct.
Sir, while using relative pronoun (that,which) after a clause, is there any specific rule whether the pronoun will address subject or object of the mentioned clause
Hi Vasu! Great question! :D The clause will always refer back to the closest noun. That noun could be either the subject of the sentence or the object of the sentence. It just depends on the position of the clause in the sentence. In all my examples, the pronoun is referring to the object of the sentence "iPod, Yosemite, and laws." I could rewrite these sentences, though, so that pronoun still refers to these nouns as the subject of the sentence: -- "The iPod that sold for $399 was released by Apple in 2001." -- "The iPod, which sold for $399, was released by Apple in 2001." -- "Yosemite, which spans 1,190 square miles, is my favorite National Park." -- "Laws that instituted injustice were openly questioned by Mahatma Gandhi." So there are no rules that dictate whether the pronoun will address the subject or object beyond the location of the clause in the sentence. The sentence's I wrote above illustrate that it can shift and change. I hope this helps! :D
Hi Aditya, I haven't made a video on "who" and "whom" usage. That would be a great video to make! :D Magoosh does have a great article on the usage of these two, though, which I highly recommend: magoosh.com/toefl/2015/who-vs-whom-in-statements/
Love Kevin's lively attitude! He somehow manages to dilute all the serious stuff going on in GMAT.
Thanks Tushar! Happy studying!
I have been literally struggling to understand the caveat between which and that. you made my day and i mean it. I thank you from the bottom of my heart for such a crystal clear and precise explanation.
Yay! That's great to hear! Your stoke made my day! :D
Straight, clear and lucid. Simply good.
Wow! The lecture is a amazing ! Short, crisp, informative.
This as clear as it can be! I've had this exact doubt nagging me for weeks. Thank you for the video :)
At last, God has spoken. I was looking for the differences between that and which for so long.
We're glad you found it :) And once you know it you probably won't forget! Here's a blog post you can keep for reference as well:
magoosh.com/gmat/that-vs-which-on-the-gmat/
Amazing attitude and approach Kevin. Hats off to your work
Kevin's explanation is nice. He need to do the tricks and trade. He's the best as is :)
We think he's the best as well! We're glad you liked it :)
The concept is clear with the examples mentioned above. However, if complex long sentences are used, the 'vital' versus 'non vital' factor can become very confusing. For example-
As a result of the explosion, every human being was bombarded by 100 billion neutrinos; fortunately, neutrinos are harmless elementary particles that/which are produced in nuclear reactions and that/which interact very weakly with matter.
Why is one correct versus the other above?
Howdy MsSmile90! :D
Great question! Happy to help! :D But let me as you a question first: is the example sentence you provided from a GMAT question? If it is not, then it's going to be less useful for preparing for the test.
But, regardless, I think we can still tackle your sentence, using the same strategy I suggest in the video. Can we remove those phrases from the sentence and still maintain the core meaning of the sentence? So, does this sentence still convey all the necessary information that the original one you wrote:
-- "As a result of the explosion, every human being was bombarded by 100 billion neutrinos; fortunately, neutrinos are harmless elementary particles."
I think the answer is yes. The sentence hasn't lost any vital meaning. The core idea is still there: humans are bombarded by neutrinos and they are harmless. Everything else is a nice to have and adding extra information. So I'd think the sentence should be written with "which" and not "that."
Does that make sense?
I hope that helps! :D
It was an official GMAT question, without the 'fluff'. Here is the original sentence from the Official mock test I took-
As a result of a supernova explosion, every human being on Earth was bombarded on February 23, 1987, by about 100 billion neutrinos; fortunately, neutrinos are harmless elementary particles that are produced in nuclear reactions and that interact very weakly with matter. I selected a choice with which, but it happens to be wrong and the one with 'that' has been marked correct by the website.
Thanks for your response :) Magoosh has been a vital part of my GMAT journey.
Thanks for providing more information here. That actually helps me to see why we'd like to choose that. The first part of the sentence that you left out "As a result of a supernova explosion" provides more information in the sentence that would indicate that the phrases are more vital to the sentence.
Also, I looked over the answer choices for this question and your first consideration should be parallelism-not choosing between that and which. And the option that uses "which" could potentially work in this sentence, but the second "which" needs to have a comma before it. I think this might've been the one you chose. We'd need to toss this one out due to the missing comma. :D
Glad that Magoosh is helping! Happy studying! :D
Thanks Kevin, it is indeed very clear now. I selected ans choice 3 with one which and totally missed the parallelism being tested here. :)
you are the best Kevin :)
the best video i found on this topic. man u r great. keep it up!
I really love the way this man explain...
You are rocking..
Kevin how to decide weather a part in restrictive or not.Do we have understand the intent and meaning to decide the usage of
that or which.In example of ipods how to make a certain choice between that or which
Great question! :D
You will need to determine if the information is vital to the meaning of the sentence, so that means you have to decide what the core idea of the sentence is and make a decision about what is vital to conveying that meaning. On the GMAT, this will be challenging, but it should be unambiguous if something is vital to a sentence.
The example of ipods is not as clear as it could be. Whether or not a "that" or "which" should be used is a little more ambiguous and doesn't quite meet the rigor of the GMAT. That's my fault. Sorry about that.
Hope this helps! :D Happy studying!
Hi! Great video, could you share whether a sentence can start with the word "being" please?
Thanx for illuminating on the subject
From an Indian viewer
Super clear and optimistic, appreciate your help, sir!
This is real good. Love the energy Kevin!
what is the usage difference of who and which..?
Really good. Explanation is so simple.....
Something about the Apple example did not add up for me. How does the meaning in the two sentences change here?
+Roohi Zainab this is tough! The change in meaning is very subtle. And the changing in meaning has to do with where we put the emphasis. Really, we are either talking about "the iPod" and the price is secondary information, or we are talking a "the iPod that sold for $399." Does that help?
+Kevin Rocci I think it does clarify. But I will look for more such sentences to really get it. Thanks for the prompt reply!
Excellent... Please upload more for other differences too
Love u sir from india
Super helpful thank you!
Couldn't help but laugh at the intro. That's for the awesome tips Kevin!
He makes us all laugh! 😂
Does "that" only modify previous noun ? Example OG question -
Foraging at all times of the day and night, but interspersing their feeding with periods of rest that last between one and eight hours, a sperm whale could eat so much as a ton of squid a day.
Here that refers to periods isn't it???
Hi Rahul! This is a very insightful question-and an important one to master for the GMAT. You are correct! In the example sentence, "that" is modifying the noun phrase: "periods of rest." If one adhere strictly to the touch rule, they would assume that it's modifying "rest." But that is wrong since "rest" is contained within a prepositional phrase which modifies "periods." Great question and happy studying! :D
@@kevinrocci3793 hi Kevin, how do you know if 'that' is referring to object of preposition ('rest') or in this case 'periods of rest' ?
Hi @@jabhatta , Great question! :D
If you are looking at a sentence and it has a prepositional phrase, you can safely assume "that" is referring to the whole preposition-not the object of the preposition. Think of the whole preposition as one whole chunk of meaning-it's a self-contained unit or building block. So "that" can't refer to only part of the block. It must refer to the whole block of meaning.
Feel free to share an example of a sentence where you think "that" is referring to the object of the preposition.
Great explanation Kevin, thanks!¡
Excellent video my friend.
Thank you for posting this.
Happy to help, +Arjun Sachdeva! I am glad to know that the video is helpful. :D
hi Kevin.
I have a question. Does “She stopped me from going ahead with the plan, which was really bad” mean that it was really bad that she stopped me, or does it mean that the plan was really bad?
(Obviously if I’d used ‘that’ instead of ‘which’ it would be clear that it was the plan that was bad).
thanks and regards
Is "Which" without comma restrictive ??
When used to introduce a phrase like this, "which" must always come with a comma. So it is always not restrictive, the comma is not optional.
@@MagooshGMAT understood ...tnx👍
Dear Kevin,
I've a doubt I would love for you to clarify.
In the first sentence "In 2001, Apple released THE iPod that sold for $399." Would replacing THE iPod, with AN iPod impact how we assess the sentence. Couldn't the word AN make the state NON-Restrictive ?
that was really helpful. thanks!
Good one
Really helpful...
Could you please make a video on ; also?
+Vikas Dahiya I'd love to. The semicolon can be quite confusing at times. :D I'd be happy to do a video on it.
That vs Whicb
An excellent aid from your video. It just cleared the cobwebs out of my mind instantly.
Really kudos to your efforts
Regards
Kiran
That's great news, +Kiran Kumar! :D
Dear Kevin
The insight you provided in your videos is really enriching
Kudos to you
Kiran
Hii,Thanks for an awesome video,but I do have a questions to ask
In this video in 2 example
"In 2001, apple released the i pod, which sold for $399."
Now what i have read so far is that anything that comes between the 2 commas is mostly irrelevant, so according to this if we remove the phrase between the commas,the sentence would be "In 2001 which sold for $399." which doesn't have any meaning
so, could you please explain me how is this sentence correct.
The which is a modifier for the part before it. You cannot simply remove it.
This is so helpful double thumbs up, how about some on clauses
Sir, while using relative pronoun (that,which) after a clause, is there any specific rule whether the pronoun will address subject or object of the mentioned clause
Hi Vasu! Great question! :D
The clause will always refer back to the closest noun. That noun could be either the subject of the sentence or the object of the sentence. It just depends on the position of the clause in the sentence. In all my examples, the pronoun is referring to the object of the sentence "iPod, Yosemite, and laws." I could rewrite these sentences, though, so that pronoun still refers to these nouns as the subject of the sentence:
-- "The iPod that sold for $399 was released by Apple in 2001."
-- "The iPod, which sold for $399, was released by Apple in 2001."
-- "Yosemite, which spans 1,190 square miles, is my favorite National Park."
-- "Laws that instituted injustice were openly questioned by Mahatma Gandhi."
So there are no rules that dictate whether the pronoun will address the subject or object beyond the location of the clause in the sentence. The sentence's I wrote above illustrate that it can shift and change. I hope this helps! :D
Kevin Rocci Thanks a lot sir!
Thanks
lol Gandhi was actually an anarchist
Is that Charlie Day ?
dem zils though... using them for my next dance lol :)
awesome
that : vital 8nformation
which : not
You got it!
impossible to watch :( I have to stop it in the first minute :(
Plzz correct this sentence.
she behaves as if she (know) everything
Thanx for illuminating on the subject
From an Indian viewer
Happy to help! :D
Kevin Rocci Sir , do make a video on who and whom usage
Hi Aditya, I haven't made a video on "who" and "whom" usage. That would be a great video to make! :D Magoosh does have a great article on the usage of these two, though, which I highly recommend:
magoosh.com/toefl/2015/who-vs-whom-in-statements/
Could you please make a video on ; also?