The Writing Centre
How to avoid some common writing confusions
That or which?
Sometimes we are confused over whether to use “that” or “which” in certain situations. You can ask, is the part of the
sentence that the “which/that” introduces necessary to the meaning of the sentence? If it is necessary, use “that”, but if
it isn’t, use “which.” For people, use WHO or WHOM (see below).
1. The box, which was very heavy, needed to be put on the top shelf.
2. The box that had oil all over it needed to be put on the bottom shelf
3. Of all the boxes, I, of course, picked up one that had oil all over it. D’oh!
In the first case there is one box being discussed, and it needs to be put on the top shelf. We have the extra nonnecessary information that it is very heavy.
In the second case, there must be more than one box, and we are being told that it is the one with oil on it that needs to
be put on the bottom shelf: that information is necessary to make the right choice. And in the third example, for the
same reason, “that” is necessary because we need to know that the box is the oily one.
Who or whom?
Lots of people are uncertain about when to use “who” and when to use “whom.” It is actually quite straightforward.
1. Use “who” when it is the subject of the verb, the doer of the action, as in the examples below.
Who made the grammatical error? It was the Writing Centre Coordinator who made the error! The Writing Centre
Coordinator, who hung his head in shame, was laughed at by his colleagues.
In this case the Writing Centre coordinator is the subject, the doer, of the verb “made”, or in the last sentence, of the
verb “hung”.
2. Use “whom” when it is the object of the verb, the “done-to” of the action.
Whom did the student correct? It was the Writing Centre Coordinator whom the student corrected. The Writing
Centre Coordinator, whom his colleagues mocked, hung his head in shame.
In this case, the Writing Centre Coordinator is the object, the “done-to” of the verb “corrected.” Or, in the last sentence,
of the verb “mocked”
Tips:
1. “Whom” is rather formal-sounding. Using “who” is mostly fine in speech.
2. Using “whom” wrongly is a more noticeable error than using “who” wrongly, so if in doubt, use “who”!
P.T.O.
John Hill, 2017
Colon (:) or semi-colon (;)?
These two similar-looking pieces of punctuation are used in quite different situations. The part of the sentence that
comes before a COLON must be an independent clause. That is, you should be able to put a period in place of the colon.
However, what comes after the colon can be anything: a phrase, a list, another full potential sentence, or even just one
word. You could think of the colon as allowing the first part to introduce the second part, or perhaps indicating that the
second part will explain the part before, so in that sense the second part is subsidiary to the first.
There are three main kinds of democratic governments currently: parliamentary systems, presidential
systems, and mass-membership one-party systems.
There are three main kinds of democratic government: they vary significantly.
The situation was complicated, but it could be easily described: confusion.
So the following sentence is NOT correct because the part that comes before the colon is NOT a sentence, but a
fragment. That is to say, if you put a period after “include” it would feel like a very incomplete thought.
The three main kinds of democracy include: parliamentary systems, presidential systems, and massmembership one-party systems. [WRONG!] In this case you would simply delete the colon and all would be
well.
In the case of the SEMI-COLON the parts of the sentence on each side of it must both be independent clauses, and so
could be written as two sentences, but you have decided to show a close linkage between them by using a semi-colon.
The two parts are relatively equal in status.
There are many kinds of democratic government; democracy is not synonymous with periodic multi-party
elections.
Note that in the sentence above I cannot use a COMMA in place of the semi-colon to link the two independent clauses
(or potential sentences) – that is an error and your prof will label it a “comma splice.” You COULD use a comma PLUS a
coordinating conjunction, however (for coordinating conjunctions, note the FANBOYS mnemonic: For, And, Nor, But, Or,
Yet, So). In the case above we could have written the following:
There are many kinds of democratic government, for democracy is not synonymous with periodic multi-party
elections.
John Hill, 2017