How to Escape from That Wicked Which
Sue Archer
Once upon a time, there was a golden-haired princess who lived in a tiny room at the top of
a tall tower. She never needed to choose between which or that when she wrote sentences in
her diary. This was because she didn’t have many choices at all.
When she was a baby, she was stolen from her parents by a wicked witch, who locked her up
in the tower. The witch had told her all about the scary place called Outside, and she hadn’t
tried to leave while she was growing up. But now she was a teenager, and getting bored with
solitude. She was also getting tired of writing the word which.
___
Dear Diary,
Nothing ever changes around here. The witch has warned me not to leave this place, but I
am so bored! The rocking chair, which is over by the fireplace, is still empty. I want to meet
someone! I tried putting my old doll, which has red hair, in the chair to keep me company. But
it’s just not the same. When will anything ever happen in this place?
___
The princess used the word which a lot in her diary because most of the things in the tower
were unique. She didn’t have to single out a thing from all other things of the same type, so
she used the word which to describe them. (Otherwise she would need to use that, which
distinguishes between things.)
She didn’t need to write “that doll with the red hair” because she only had one doll. She
provided the information that the doll had red hair, but the reader wouldn’t need to know this
to identify the doll.
And she didn’t need to write “that rocking chair by the fireplace” because there was only
one rocking chair, and it always sat by the fireplace.
Anything described using which is considered “non-essential” information. It can be
removed from the sentence without affecting its meaning. (This is why this information is
generally placed between commas or parentheses.) The princess could just as easily have
written the following:
___
Dear Diary,
Nothing ever changes around here. The witch has warned me not to leave this place, but I
am so bored! The rocking chair, which is over by the fireplace, is still empty. I want to meet
someone! I tried putting my old doll, which has red hair, in the chair to keep me company. But
it’s just not the same. When will anything ever happen in this place?
___
Spring 2015
23