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About relative pronoun

"My brother and I are driving from Stockholm, Sweden to the south of Norway. (We’re part Swedish, part Norwegian, so we live in Sweden, but our family has a summer house in Norway that my grandfather built.)"

In the part "our family has a summer house in Norway that my grandfather built." Is it ok to replace "that" with "which"? Any difference? Thank you.

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ArishMell · 70-79, M

"Which" is more applicable to some sort of of choice or option, but the sentence is equally comprehensible whether it uses "which" or "that".

Though the sentence would be shorter and smoother if grandfather was nearer his summer house:

"our family has a summer house, built by my grandfather, in Norway".

......

Tht brings back a personal memory from years ago! On a holiday walking in the hills in Norway, we met two young men on their way, they told us, to inspect an old house we had passed. They explained it had been their grandfather's and they wanted to use it again, as a summer house.

corta24 · 41-45, M

@ArishMell Thank you very much!

ninalanyon · 61-69, T

If we want to be very precise about the grammar there is another problem. "so we live in Sweden" does not logically follow from the previous clauses. "so" would be better replaced by "and".

Or omit "so" and separate the sentence into two related sentences connected by a semi-colon:

We’re part Swedish, part Norwegian; we live in Sweden, but our family has a summer house in Norway that my grandfather built.)

Mamapolo2016 · F

That sentence is a bit tricky. Almost any English speaker would understand your meaning, but as it is structured it implies your grandfather built Norway. (As he may have done, for all I know.)

You could switch it around a little. For example: “The family’s summer house, built by my grandfather, is in Norway.”

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corta24 · 41-45, M

@SomeMichGuy Thank you!

ninalanyon · 61-69, T

@Mamapolo2016 It could also be fixed by making the in Norway part a parenthetical remark by surrounding it with commas:

We’re part Swedish, part Norwegian, so we live in Sweden, but our family has a summer house, in Norway, that my grandfather built.)

Mamapolo2016 · F

@ninalanyon Yes, it certainly could!

froggtongue · M

I think most English speakers would naturally use "that" in your sentence. But the word "which" is perfectly acceptable here too. It doesn't make any difference except in how it sounds.

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swirlie · F

@froggtongue

The word "that" with a restrictive clause adds essential details and clarification, whereas the word "which" with a non-restrictive clause adds non-essential details and context. The operative words here are "essential" versus "non-essential" details.

A restrictive clause means that the information in the clause is necessary to understand the preceding noun.

For a restrictive clause which is the case in his quoted example, his use of the word "that" is therefore correctly used.

froggtongue · M

@swirlie so what i see here is it's up to the speaker on which he feels, if the information is essential or not.

swirlie · F

@froggtongue
No, its dependent upon how the clause in the question is written, not whether the speaker feels the information is essential or not.

If its essential according to it's author, then it is written as such which is how the original poster of the question constructed his question. He therefore made it's context essential which therefore requires the word "that".

What we are therefore dealing with is HOW he actually wrote his question, not how he COULD HAVE written his question otherwise to make the context non-essential, which would only then require the word "which" to make it grammatically correct.

SomeMichGuy · M

"which" is fine

You can also transition to the passive voice right there:

"...but our family has a summer house in Norway which was built by my grandfather."

corta24 · 41-45, M

@SomeMichGuy Thank you very much!

ArtieKat · M

In English-English there is no difference - I personally would use which.

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ArtieKat · M

@swirlie I can only judge what I learned in A-Level English.

swirlie · F

@ArtieKat
Same here. Just sayin'... 🤷🏼‍♀

corta24 · 41-45, M

@ArtieKat Thank you very much!

BeJeweled · 61-69, F

I would use either so both work for me.

corta24 · 41-45, M

@BeJeweled Thank you very much!

swirlie · F

The way you originally wrote "..in Norway that my grandfather built" is grammatically correct. Here's why:

The word "that" with a restrictive clause adds essential details and clarification, whereas the word "which" with a non-restrictive clause adds non-essential details and context. The operative words here are "essential" versus "non-essential" details.

A restrictive clause means that the information in the clause is necessary to understand the preceding noun.

For a restrictive clause, use the word "that" like you have done. 🇸🇪

corta24 · 41-45, M

@swirlie Thank you very much!

swirlie · F

@corta24
Du ar valkommen! 🇨🇦🇸🇪

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