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Which vs. That

    March 9, 2025
    + 12

    Make sure that you’re using which and that correctly.

    Which

    Put which before any clause in a sentence that’s a non-defining clause, or non-essential to the meaning of a sentence.

    If you removed the content that follows which in a sentence, the meaning of the sentence shouldn’t change. You’d only lose an interesting detail.

    For example:

    • The Capella database, which you deployed yesterday, is healthy.

    • The Quick Index Editor, which you can open from the Web Console, uses a document to define fields in a Search index.

    Removing the clause after the which doesn’t change the meaning of the sentence.

    The reader doesn’t need to know if there’s any additional database other than the healthy one.

    The reader doesn’t need to know that the Quick Index Editor can be opened from the Web Console.

    As well, put a comma before any clauses that use which.

    That

    Put that before any clause in a sentence that’s a defining or essential clause, or is a key part of the meaning of a sentence.

    If you removed the content that follows that in a sentence, the meaning of the sentence would change.

    For example:

    • The Capella database that you deployed yesterday is healthy.

    • The Quick Index Editor that you can open from the Web Console uses a document to define fields in a Search index.

    Removing the clause after the that completely changes the meaning of the sentence.

    The reader needs to know that it’s specifically the database that they deployed yesterday. Or, they need to know that it’s the Quick Index Editor that they can open from the Web Console.

    In both sentences, the that tells the reader the specific option out of a number of options that they need to use.

    Don’t put a comma before any clauses that use that.