All rules

Restrictive "which" and "that" mixed

which-that-consistencyon by default (info)English

Restrictive clauses opened with "which" in some places and "that" in others

Example

Flagged
The job that builds the site runs nightly. The script that checks links runs hourly. The task that sends mail runs daily. The file which stores the keys is encrypted.
What chaff prints
1:132 This restrictive clause opens with "which"; the document mostly uses "that"
Fixed
The job that builds the site runs nightly. The script that checks links runs hourly. The task that sends mail runs daily. The file that stores the keys is encrypted.
What chaff prints
no finding

How to fix

Match the rest of the document. If the clause is meant as an aside, set it off with a comma and use "which".

Why it matters

A restrictive relative clause ("the file that contains the keys") opens with "that" for some writers and "which" for others. American guides prefer "that"; British ones accept both. chaff does not pick a side. Mixed in one document, a reader wonders whether a "which" clause is meant as an aside (the non-restrictive kind, set off by a comma). Only "noun + which/that + verb" with no comma between is counted, and the fewer form is pointed at.

What it does not flag

A non-restrictive clause set off by a comma ("the rule, which we added,"), "which" after a preposition ("in which"), a "that" followed by its own subject ("the report that we wrote", "the fact that it works"), a document where the usual form appears fewer than 3 times, and one where the fewer form passes the level (used on purpose) are not reported. Text inside quotation marks (single ones too, ‘…’, even over several sentences) and block quotations (a > paragraph, a paragraph opening with a bracketed alteration such as [T]he, or one that goes on in lowercase after a paragraph left without a full stop) keep the quoted text's wording and are not counted.

Turning it off or relaxing it

Silence this one spot (in the document)
<!-- stet: which-that-consistency — reason -->
Relax it for the team (the reason is kept as a comment in chaff.yaml)
npx chaffjs relax which-that-consistency --why "reason"
Turn it off for the team (chaff.yaml)
rules: which-that-consistency: off
Technical details
Layer
L3
Status
stable
Severity
info
Languages
en
Suited to
business, technical, blog, legal, docs, academic, literature, speech
Reads from the document
pos

Levels

Set a level for this rule under rules in chaff.yaml. With nothing set, it runs at the level its genre gives it (see By genre below).

strictreported when the fewer form appears 4 times or fewer
normalreported when the fewer form appears 2 times or fewer
relaxedreported when the fewer form appears 1 times or fewer

By genre

Runs by default in
technical/spec, technical/readme, blog/tech, blog/essay, blog/owned-media, business/proposal, business/report, business/email, business/press-release, business/meeting-notes, legal/contract, legal/statute, legal/judgment, legal/patent, docs/manual, docs/faq, docs/glossary, academic/paper
Turned off by the genre in
literature/fiction, literature/essay, literature/poetry, literature/play, speech/address, speech/transcript

Genres

Message

This restrictive clause opens with "{word}"; the document mostly uses "{usual}"

Rewrite depth (chaff fix-plan --depth): light — words and sentences; the structure and the voice stay

This page is built from the rule's definition file:packages/chaff/rules/which-that-consistency.yaml