Jun 122008
My deadline for reporting my continuing education compliance is coming up fast and I’m still short on credits, so yesterday found me at a day-long seminar on improving one’s legal writing. Even though I fancy myself a better-than-average writer, the class did point out some gaps in my knowledge. Like the proper usage of that versus which in sentence clauses. How could I have not known that that is used in restrictive clauses and which is used in nonrestrictive clauses? I mean, it’s so obvious. Observe:
The CLE that I attended yesterday was mildly interesting and somewhat overpriced.
The CLE, which was mildly interesting, was somewhat overpriced.
You are joking, aren’t you?
What I’ve learned about it is that the “antecedent” must be defined, if you want to put a comma and “which”.
-The Atomium, which is made of alluminium, was built for the 1958 world exhibition in Brussels.
-Your style, which most people enjoy, is characterised by the use of funny ideas!
-The style (that) I consider the best is Henry James’s, b ecause of its melodious and romantic fluency.