When two words sound the same, it is easy to mix them up. But since sounding the same and meaning the same are very different, this can be a problem. The words ‘which’ and ‘witch’, for example, sound identical.
However, one of these is a term that you might use in writing every day, while the other is a very specific word with a very specific usage. But which of ‘which’ and ‘witch’ is which? And how do you avoid errors in your work?
‘Which’ can be a pronoun or a determiner. Its main use is to ask questions that specify one or more things or people from a group or set. For instance:
Which of your brothers stole my cake?
Here, ‘which’ shows that we want to know the specific brother responsible for cake theft. It can also be used to offer specifying information:
Somebody stole the cake which my father made.
In this case, ‘which’ introduces a relative clause that provides extra detail about the cake (i.e. who made it). In British English, ‘which’ can be used for both restrictive relative clauses (like the one above) or for non-restrictive relative clauses, which (like here!) should be set apart with commas.
The word ‘witch’ is a noun, typically used to describe a female magic user. More specifically, when most people think of witches they think of an evil woman in a pointy hat who rides a broomstick:
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The kids dressed up as witches and ghosts for Halloween this year.
In the past, women were sometimes accused of being witches if they upset people or broke social rules (this even led to people being killed in witch hunts). Nowadays, thankfully, most women do not have to worry about being accused of witchcraft on a daily basis (even if they own a black cat).
Mixing up these words will look bad in your writing because they are very different in meaning! Luckily, there is an easy way to tell them apart. The important factor is that ‘which’ starts with a ‘wh-’. This makes it like a lot of other question words, such as ‘why’, ‘what’ and ‘where’.
Thus, if you’re asking a question (or adding information about something), the correct term will be ‘which’. If you are writing about a magical woman, on the other hand, you’ll need the word ‘witch’!
Which = Pronoun or determiner
Witch = Woman with magic powers
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