whichdet/wɪt͡ʃ/

• 1

  What, of those mentioned or implied.

  • Which song shall we play?
  • They couldn't decide which song to play.
• 2

  The/Any ... that; whichever.

  • Take which one you want.
  • You may go which way you please.
• 3

  Designates the one(s) previously mentioned.

  • After glaring upon the smoking philosopher, who took his misfortunes with such positive nonchalance, he growled out an oath in German, which language is particularly adapted for growling in; then, raising his hand, he dealt him a blow on his pipe, which sent it, like a rocket, into the midst of the players.
  • Whitaker’s blog post, housed on a website called Minutes Before Six, goes on to make references to Albert Camus’ 1947 classic, The Plague, dips into a Camus-inspired existential ramble and returns to an attempt to convey the detail of Prieto’s being essentially “noble,” which fact, he admits, will be lost in translation to anyone unfamiliar with death row units.

whichpron/wɪt͡ʃ/

• 1

  What one or ones (of those mentioned or implied).

  • Which is which?
  • By now, you must surely know which is which.
• 2

  The/Any ones that; whichever.

  • Please take which you please.
• 3

  In a non-restrictive relative clause, referring to something previously mentioned.

  • I dropped a saucepan, which knocked over the eggs, which went all over the kitchen floor.
  • I found my camera, which I thought I'd lost, under the bed.
• 4

  archaicIn a non-restrictive relative clause, referring to something previously mentioned.

  • She had a young child, which cried incessantly.
• 5

  In a non-restrictive relative clause, referring to something previously mentioned.

  • The front door was open, which concerned me.
  • He had to leave, which was very difficult.
• 6

  In a restrictive relative clause, referring to a noun previously mentioned.

  • This is the letter which I received.
  • This is the letter in which he explains his decision.
• 7

  archaicIn a restrictive relative clause, referring to a noun previously mentioned.

  • The men which acompanyed him on his waye stode amased, for they herde a voyce, butt sawe no man.

whichconj/wɪt͡ʃ/

• 1

  Introduces an anacoluthon.

  • We didn’t find any strips of skin. Which, by the way, ughhh!
  • Scientists have discovered the bones of a three-foot-tall, 15-pound parrot that lived some 16 million years ago. The remains had initially been misidentified as those of an “enormous, possibly human-eating eagle,” which … yikes.
• 2

  And.

  • They only offered me five dollars, which I wouldn’t do it for less than fifteen.
  • “Just leave them under the seat, okay,” she says, knowing that in all likelihood I won’t be able to leave this party. This house. This neighborhood. That it’s possible I won’t even open the driver’s side door. Yet she’s doing this anyway. Which, maybe that’s her point.