It's Mignon Fogarty, Grammar Girl.

You asked for it and I've been working on it for over a year.

My first print book comes out this week, July 8th.

You can buy a copy now wherever fine books are sold.

Grammar Girl here.

Today's show is a new and improved version of the Elusive Episode 7, which versus that.

If you're confused about that versus which, don't feel bad.

That's one of the most common topics people ask me about.

I used to work as a technical writer and I'd often edit documents in which people used

the wrong word.

One of the ones I'd put in the right word only to have clients change appropriately

find that to a witch and send it back to me.

In fact, having a client try to overrule my correction of a witch to a that was one of

the things that pushed me over the edge and made me start the Grammar Girl podcast.

Here's the deal.

Some people will argue that the rules are more complex and flexible than this.

But I like to make things as simple as possible.

So I say that you use that before a restrictive clause in which before everything else.

A restrictive clause is just part of a sentence that you can't get rid of because it specifically

restricts some other part of the sentence.

Here's an example.

Gems that sparkle often elicit forgiveness.

...