G3-a Select who for references to people, which for nonrestrictive references to things, and that for restrictive references to groups and things.

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G3-a Select who for references to people, which for nonrestrictive references to things, and that for restrictive references to groups and things.

restrictive clause A clause, not set off by commas, that provides information essential to defining or identifying the noun or pronoun it modifies.

nonrestrictive clause A clause, set off by commas, that provides extra or nonessential information and could be eliminated without changing the meaning of the noun or pronoun it modifies.

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Change that to who to refer to a person.

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Note: Rewriting a sentence to simplify its structure sometimes eliminates a problem with pronouns.

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(See also G3-b for information on who and whom.)

Change that to which when a nonrestrictive clause supplies extra, nondefining information.

Introduce nonrestrictive clause with which, not that.

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See P1-c on using commas with nonrestrictive word groups.

Change which to that when a restrictive clause supplies essential information defining a thing or a group.

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Introduce a restrictive clause with that, not which.

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See P2-b on unnecessary commas with restrictive word groups.