Hi Nancy,

I agree with you about the commas!  Plus, these commas nicely parallel the commas that we put around some adverbials (e.g., paired commas around adverbials moved to the middle of the sentence) so they are good to talk about for reasons of underlying comma logic, too.

re: grammar checkers--I suspect them of raising the profile of the that/which error, not of creating it.  

Beth


>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Hi, Beth. 

Thanks for sharing that information--very interesting!  I do think this
distinction goes back further than grammar checkers, though. I remember
using it long before I had ever even seen a word processor.

I'm curious, though: even if we don't use "that" and "which" to distinguish
between essential and nonessential (restrictive-nonrestrictive) clauses,
will we assume that the only way to tell one from the other is with a pair
of commas (or a single comma if the nonrestrictive clause ends the
sentence)? I'm thinking about a pair of sentences such as these: 

The classrooms that were painted during the summer break are bright and
clean. [Only some of the classrooms were painted, not all of them, and those
that were painted are bright and clean.]

vs.

The classrooms, which were painted during the summer break, are bright and
clean. [All of the classrooms are bright and clean--and, oh, by the way,
they were all painted over the summer.]

I have always found the "which/that" distinction helpful, but I certainly do
not see most writers making that distinction any longer. Most use "which"
regardless of the nature of the relative clause. Thus, the commas seem all
the more important to me in preventing a misreading. I have been telling
students (and adults in seminars, who are particularly obsessed with making
this distinction, although they can never quite remember which word performs
which function) that the commas are more important than ever if fewer and
fewer people are using "which" and "that" to clarify their meaning.

Sheepishly,

Nancy

Nancy L. Tuten, PhD
Professor of English
Director of the Writing-across-the-Curriculum Program
Columbia College
Columbia, South Carolina
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803-786-3706

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