Welcome to
ESL Printables, the website where English Language teachers exchange resources: worksheets, lesson plans,  activities, etc.
Our collection is growing every day with the help of many teachers. If you want to download you have to send your own contributions.

 


 

 

 

ESL Forum:

Techniques and methods in Language Teaching

Games, activities and teaching ideas

Grammar and Linguistics

Teaching material

Concerning worksheets

Concerning powerpoints

Concerning online exercises

Make suggestions, report errors

Ask for help

Message board

 

ESL forum > Grammar and Linguistics > that īs why or which is why?    

that īs why or which is why?



Bonca
Hungary

that īs why or which is why?
 
Dear Colleagues,
 
I found this sentence in an exercise on relative clauses.
 
My uncle is rich, ........ is why I borrrowed some money from him. Can I use both pronouns (that , which) here?
 
Thank you for help!

13 Jan 2011      





MoodyMoody
United States

I īm just going with my first reaction as an American English speaker; I īm not going by any rule. For me, I would say, "My uncle is rich, and that is why I borrowed some money from him," or "My uncle is rich, which is why I borrowed some money from him." I don īt really have a good grammatical reason why I prefer the "and" with that, but I do.

13 Jan 2011     



tulpen25
Netherlands

which

13 Jan 2011     



suhakhader
Jordan

Hi,
I believe that the sentence would go like this: My uncle is rich, that  is why I borrrowed some money from him.
 
 Actually, I haven īt heard of:  ..........which is why.......... . before!
 
I agree with Moody.
 

13 Jan 2011     



youness
Jordan

I think it is a must to use that  because ( That is why ) is an expression used to show the result of doing something. That is why is equal to so that
 
For example when I say( Reema īs car didn īt work probably that is why  She  arrived late.
 
AllAH Knows  ( God knows)

13 Jan 2011     



tulpen25
Netherlands

suhak...,

 
moody actually said they īd use that with and but in the orignal sentence (without and), they would use which ;)
 
which is why.... most definitely exists :)

13 Jan 2011     



Zora
Canada

I īd say both options are correct in that sentence - with or without Moody īs *and* - which I īd say is just a matter of what sounds better to each speaker. Smile

14 Jan 2011     



memthefirst
Turkey

īyouness � "That īs why" doesnt express result but reason

14 Jan 2011     



yanogator
United States

OK, here īs how I see it.
In the given sentence, there is a comma:
 
My uncle is rich, ........ is why I borrrowed some money from him.
 
This means that they want one sentence, so we have to use the relative pronoun (which). If you use "that", it has to start a new sentence.
 
My uncle is rich. That is why I borrrowed some money from him.
 
I hope this helps you.
Bruce

14 Jan 2011     



alien boy
Japan

Bruce, I īm with you on that one.  The comma is important!

if īand � (conjunction) had been used instead of the comma then īthat � would have been the correct option to use.

Regards,
AB

14 Jan 2011     



arkel
Ireland

I agree with Bruce and Alien boy. We use which after a comma.

Regards, Rosemary

14 Jan 2011     

1    2    Next >