English help: 'that' or 'which' ??

Question

A network of small British suppliers make the sweets by hand in big copper pans, ________ intensifies the flavour.

A that

B what

C which

I can't decide between that and which. How does one know which one to use ? What's the difference between them ??

"what" just doesn't sound good, I don't have an explanation. :/

Answer 1

C) Which

Answer 2

C)Which

Saying "that intensifies the flavor" would make it be like a whole other sentence

and also you're right "what" doesn't sound good

Answer 3

which  

Answer 4

Firstly you can use that when referring to a person!

In this sentence the correct answer is C) which because of the comma after pans. If you remove the comma the answer could be C) which or A) that.

Ok - I'll try and explain. This question is all about knowledge and understanding of relative clauses.

There are two types of relative clause - defining and non-defining.

Defining relative clauses define the Subject of the sentence for example in the sentence:  'The actor is great', the subject is not defined 'which actor???.' So we define the actor by using a relative clause 'The actor who stars in Titanic is great' and now the subject is defined (Leonardo DiCaprio :) ).

In defining relative clauses you can use that instead of which/who for example 'The man who/that you spoke to yesterday.'

In Non-Defining relative clauses the clause gives extra information for example Leonardo DiCaprio, who is American, stars in Titanic. Note that the extra information is between commas and we can remove it without grammatically changing the sentence, DiCaprio stars in Titanic.

In Non-Defining relative clauses you CANNOT use that! (No reason - you just can't!)

Your example sentence is Non-Defining because the subject 'making the sweets by hand is well defined. Also the comma tells you it is extra information. Making the sweets by hand intensifies the flavour. Therefore as it is non-defining you have to use 'which'

If you remove the comma then the subject becomes 'big copper pans' and you are then defining exactly what type of big copper pans you are using (intensifying flavour pans) and you can use which or that.



Hope that helps!

Answer 5

A network of small British suppliers make the sweets by hand in big copper pans, which intensifies the flavour.

Definitely 'C which'.

Sadly, I've never been very good at explaining English vocabulary or grammar. It just 'seems right' for me. And it usually is.

So - I'm going to direct you here: http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-the-diff...

Hope that helps :)

Answer 6

Personally, I think it's WHICH.

Say it out loud and pick whichever (or is that WHATever???) sounds best.

Answer 7

which intensifies ....or that intensify...both are acceptable I would say