When should you use 'that' instead of 'which'?
In American English, "that" and "which" are relative pronouns; one is restrictive and the other is nonrestrictive.

What that means is that one introduces additional information that is necessary to describe or identify something--it restricts the meaning (you could only be talking about this particular one), and the other is nice-to-know but not necessary-to-know (it doesn't restrict anything).

"That" is restrictive, and "which" is not. And the tipoff is that in this type of construction, "which" is preceded by a comma--a clear signal that it's just adding information and not insisting on it. Try to remember not just "which" but "comma which" (, which) and see if that helps mark the difference.

Examples

Restrictive: "that" - necessary to the meaning

Drop your raffle ticket into the box that is labeled "Raffle."


This means: There is more than one box. Don't drop your ticket into the wrong box. Look for the one with "Raffle" written on it. Don't make a mistake and put it in the box for survey forms or the box for your votes on where to hold the picnic.

You need information about which box in order to restrict the meaning of "box" to the correct box.


Nonrestrictive: ", which" - nice to know, but not necessary


Buy your tickets now for the drawing, which will be held right after dinner.

This means: Buy your tickets now for the drawing. By the way, the drawing will be held right after dinner, in case you were wondering. There's only going to be one drawing. You don't need any help knowing which drawing it is because there isn't more than one. Here's some additional information about it: it's going to be held after dinner.

You don't need to restrict information about which drawing because there's no chance of confusion when there's only one. So the nonrestrictive ", which" is appropriate.

Note: British English allows "which" to be used nonrestrictively. In American English it is common but incorrect. Many Americans seem to think that "which" sounds fancier or more formal, when in reality the two expressions mean different things.

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