Which Witch is That?

 Morena Class 5, hope you are all doing well in your bubbles.

Today we are going to talk about That Which. And before you get excited, it's not about the witch on a broom. It's going to be quite a technical chat.

For those of you that mix these up, the 't' in witch reminds you of a broom.

Please please please tell me you know the difference between witch and which and you NEVER mix them up again!

One of us send me their draft (thank you and keep them coming- I love reading your draft and I will send you feedback via email) and asked me when to use WHICH and when to use THAT. A fabulous question, and many people confuse them (including yours truly), so let's delve into this for a bit.

Example:

Merlin showed the vet his paw that was hurt and needed stitches.

Merlin showed the vet his paw which was hurt and needed stitches.

Which one is correct: that or which- and more importantly, how do we know?

The answer is found if we ask ourselves the question: to understand the meaning of the sentence, is it necessary to get the extra bit of information? If it is necessary, we use THAT, if it is unnecessary, we use which.

Let's talk you through this.

The vet really needs to see Merlin's paw to decide if she needs to put stitches in or not, so in the above example, the correct answer is THAT.

Merlin showed the vet his paw that was hurt and needed stitches.

Now look at this sentence:

Merlin gave me his paw, which is black and white, when I showed him a treat.

'which is black and white' is interesting information, but not necessary to understand the meaning of the sentence.

A give-away is often that when you use commas, because the bit of information is an optional extra, not a necessity.

Couple more examples?

River handed his book to the teacher, which she took.

Amelia picked up her shopping bag, which she had made in handwork.

The child that kept calling out got his name on the board.

The cat that jumped at my dog is now dead.

If you are confused, don't worry, you are not alone. My brother-in-law always carries a permanent marker with him because grammatical mistakes on signs really annoy him. He is changing the world one grammar corrections at a time.

Ready for a Quizz?

1. The crocodile that/ which jumped out of the water and nearly bit Merlin's nose off is Milo's friend.

2. The dragon fire blasted the crocodile that/ which tried to bite him.

3. A piece of paper listing all the children's addresses, that/ which are near and far, is in the bright yellow emergency bag.

4. Angela handed the ink cartridge to Tunui, that/ which he took.

5. Xanthe decorated her card with glitter, that/which she had bought in the craft shop.

6. Nimai did an excellent solo on the drum, that/ which he had brought from home, in morning circle.

7. James gave Sari her jacket back, that/ which she had left behind on the field.

8. Angela picked up the lunchbox that/ which Baxter had left behind and hid it inside the cupboard.

9. Nela couldn't hear the question, because she was deeply absorbed in a book, that/ which she had just picked up from the library.

10. Jesse passed the ball to the basketball player that/ which was closest to the hoop.

Answers in tomorrow's blog, if you put your answers in the comments below, you can win a vegan treat

(Only counts if you put your answers in BEFORE I publish the next post, duh?!?)

Here's your challenge: write a sentence using that / which in the comments below and solve each other's sentences.

And then: re-read your draft, are your witches and whiches and thats in the right places?

Bonus Feature

The Diary of Merlin The Dog in the Tough Times of the Leash.

Dogs that howl annoy you? Let me tell you what annoys me.

NOISES.

To be precise: PEOPLE NOISES

To be precisely precise: CELL PHONE NOISES.

I am deep asleep right. Basking in the sun, dreaming of bowls of food, when suddenly: PLING.

I jump up. I am at the ready. I am DEFENDING MY PATCH. DO NOT WORRY FAMILY, I 'VE GOT THIS. I bark and growl, get my heckles up. No-one gets past ME.

Oh. It was a cell phone notification.

I return to the sun. I stretch and relax. I doze off... dreaming of the beach, of the nice sound of the waves, of seagulls which need chasing, of other dogs I can play with....

BEEP.

OH MY GOD I AM ON HIGH ALERT DON'T WORRY I WILL ATTACK RIGHT AWAY WOOF WOOF GROWL GROWL HECKLES UP JUMP AROUND THE HOUSE KNOCK OVER THE CUPS THAT WERE ON THE TABLE DON'T CARE ANYWAY BECAUSE I AM DEFENDING THE HUMANS.

Oh. Text came through.

If you are like me, living in a bubble with six grown-up humans, who all have a cell phone AND a laptop which also needs to make sounds, that's a LOT of sounds. Not good for a dog's sleep. Heard Angela say that it's not good for her nervous system either. So she made everyone put their phones on silent. Except one phone keeps bleeping and pinging and whistling. So there was an emergency meeting in our house last night to see why only Angela's phone is the one that keeps making noises. Turns out the phone is so old that the silence button on the side is broken and she can't get the thing to be quiet.

Honestly. Dog can't get a moment of peace around here.