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Re: A language issue (comment)



My sources agree with Mike Smith's manual with an interesting
amendment. The word "that" is used only with restrictive phrases; the
word "which" may be used with either. So if you can insert a comma
before the phrase without changing the meaning of the sentence, use
either "that" or "which"; if a comma changes the meaning, use "which".
My own instincts are to use only "which" if the comma is actually
present. To my eye, both of your versions of the sentence are
grammatically fine.

Leigh Paler wrote:

I wrote, inter alia:

... the diver took off with the same angular momentum which she
exhibited in her tightest tuck.

I have an annoying grammatical problem. I frequently misuse "which"
and "that". This is a particularly confusing case. Of course what I

--
Maurice Barnhill, mvb@udel.edu
http://www.physics.udel.edu/~barnhill/
Physics Dept., University of Delaware, Newark, DE 19716