'When' or 'That'
2024-04-20
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1Hello! This week on Ask a Teacher, we answer a question that sanjibganguli3084 posted on our YouTube channel.
2Ma,am, which of the following sentences is grammatically correct?
3-It was last Saturday that we met him/It was last Saturday when we met him.
4Thank you for writing, Sanjib. This is a very good question.
5We talked about relative pronouns in an earlier Everyday Grammar article.
6The article explains that relative pronouns help identify or give more information about a noun.
7English has many relative pronouns.
8Most relative pronouns are the same as question words: who, which, whose, whom, where, when, and why.
9That is also a relative pronoun.
10Often, there is more than one grammatically acceptable relative pronoun. For example, we can say:
11I have more friends who are boys.
12This is something which everyone knows.
13Or
14I have more friends that are boys.
15This is something that everyone knows.
16All the sentences are grammatically correct.
17Usually, choosing the best pronoun depends on the usage.
18In spoken English, we use "that" more often than other relative pronouns.
19In academic written English, we use "which" more often than other relative pronouns.
20In news writing, we use "which" and "who" the most.
21Sanjib, you asked about "that" or "when."
22We do not use "when" as a relative pronoun very often.
23We sometimes use "when" with expressions of time. For example,
24There are a lot of times when we disagree.
25But more often, we do not use a relative pronoun.
26There are a lot of times we disagree.
27So, either of your sentences is grammatically correct.
28But most of the time in English, we would use "that" in your sentence, especially if it were spoken.
29We hope this explanation has helped you, Sanjib.
30Do you have a question about American English? Send us an email at learningenglish@voanews.com.
31And that's Ask a Teacher.
32I'm Gena Bennett.
1Hello! This week on Ask a Teacher, we answer a question that sanjibganguli3084 posted on our YouTube channel. 2Question 3Ma,am, which of the following sentences is grammatically correct? -It was last Saturday that we met him/It was last Saturday when we met him. 4Answer 5Thank you for writing, Sanjib. This is a very good question. 6We talked about relative pronouns in an earlier Everyday Grammar article. The article explains that relative pronouns help identify or give more information about a noun. 7English has many relative pronouns. Most relative pronouns are the same as question words: who, which, whose, whom, where, when, and why. That is also a relative pronoun. 8Often, there is more than one grammatically acceptable relative pronoun. For example, we can say: 9I have more friends who are boys. 10This is something which everyone knows. 11Or 12I have more friends that are boys. 13This is something that everyone knows. 14All the sentences are grammatically correct. 15Usually, choosing the best pronoun depends on the usage. In spoken English, we use "that" more often than other relative pronouns. In academic written English, we use "which" more often than other relative pronouns. In news writing, we use "which" and "who" the most. 16Sanjib, you asked about "that" or "when." We do not use "when" as a relative pronoun very often. We sometimes use "when" with expressions of time. For example, 17There are a lot of times when we disagree. 18But more often, we do not use a relative pronoun. 19There are a lot of times we disagree. 20So, either of your sentences is grammatically correct. But most of the time in English, we would use "that" in your sentence, especially if it were spoken. 21We hope this explanation has helped you, Sanjib. 22Do you have a question about American English? Send us an email at learningenglish@voanews.com. 23And that's Ask a Teacher. 24I'm Gena Bennett. 25Gena Bennett wrote this lesson for VOA Learning English. 26_____________________________________________ 27Words in This Story 28academic -adj. related to schools and education