It's Christmas time. Merry Christmas to everyone and all praise to the awesome God Who gave the greatest gift in history: Jesus Christ, Who sacrificed His life to atone for the sins of us all that we may enjoy everlasting life with Him in heaven.
I'm taking a little time off, so this post in Hammer & Tongs will be the last on my website for a while. We'll start afresh on January 6 with a new post in The Crucible, and may God bless you in the coming new year.
John
FROM HARPERCOLE
I have a lot of trouble with these two. This is the sentence in question ...
She was confronting mysteries of science (which/that) would have perplexed the finest minds the Earth had ever produced.
My first instinct is to use 'which', but having read through Grammar Girl's article on the subject, I think maybe I need the restrictive clause 'that'. I'm unsure ... Any clarification would be appreciate.
RESPONSE
Whether to use "that" or "which" depends entirely on the meaning the author wants to convey. In other words, it's impossible for a reader to look at a single sentence and say, "Ooops, he should've used 'that' in that sentence." or "She made a mistake; that sentence calls for 'which'". Look at these two sentences:
I chose the dress that I wore to my brother's wedding.
I chose the dress, which I wore to my brother's wedding.
Often, people throw around the term "restrictive clause" as if it were as understandable as a baseball, but I'm sure some are clueless. A restrictive clause sets one thing apart from other like things; it specifies. That is the situation where you want to use "that". In the first sentence, the restrictive clause is "that I wore to my brother's wedding". So, to re-word for clarity, the first sentence means this:
You know the dress I wore to my brother's wedding? That's the dress I chose. I found it hanging in the back of my closet behind my work dresses.
The sentence emphasizes the specific dress worn. The speaker is letting the listener know which dress out of all her dresses she chose.
In the second sentence, "which" couples with a non-restrictive clause. There is no need for a restrictive clause because the thing discussed is either unique or plainly understood. To re-word for clarity, that sentence means this:
You know the dress I wore to my brother's wedding? I chose it. My brother's wife didn't choose it. I did.
The sentence emphasizes the choice, not the dress.
So to decide which word to use, just decide which meaning you need to convey. For your sentence use:
She was confronting mysteries of science that would have perplexed the finest minds the Earth had ever produced.
if you want to emphasize these specific mysteries that would have perplexed the finest minds, as opposed to other mysteries.
Or use:
She was confronting mysteries of science, which would have perplexed the finest minds the Earth had ever produced.
if you want to emphasize the confrontation and mean that the finest minds would be perplexed that she's confronting the mysteries at all. If you choose this meaning, then "which" always needs a comma before it.
And by the way, that sentence is pretty cumbersome. See "About Hammer & Tongs" for other suggestions to make your writing more lean and mean.