Re: Message from Internet

[Karen_Mayer -dot- TOUCH_TECHNOLOGY -at- NOTES -dot- COMPUSERVE -dot- COM]

  --------------------  ORIGINAL MESSAGE TEXT  --------------------
>     1. The record description is a text entry which has no conditional
>     logic.

>     2. The record description is a text entry which does not have
>     conditional logic.

If this is not a definition, as seems likely from the context, the sentence
should be something like "The record description is a text entry. It
contains no conditional logic."

Both of your sentences are grammatically correct, but you need a comma
before "which," because the clause is non-restrictive.  ...RM

Richard Mateosian        http://www.c2.org/~srm/   President, Berkeley STC
Freelance Technical Writer     srm -at- c2 -dot- org        Review Editor, IEEE Micro

  --------------------  END OF ORIGINAL MESSAGE  --------------------


  Ah, but is it? "Which" can be correctly used in non-restrictive AND
  restrictive clauses (vs. "that," which is used only in restrictive
  clauses). Inserting a comma changes the implied meaning of the sentences.
  Take for example:

  The lawnmower which is in the garage is broken.
     (There's more than one lawnmower, and it's the one in the garage that
  we're talking about.)
  The lawnmower that is in the garage is broken.
     (Same meaning as the above example)
  The lawnmower, which is in the garage, is broken.
     (There may or may not be other lawnmowers. The fact that the broken
  one is in the garage is simply extra information -- the main point is
  that the lawnmower is broken.)

  -- karen