Learn English – The difference between ”which” and ”in which” in a specific situation

differences

What's the difference between the two sentences below? or is either incorrect?

A – > The way which you chose was good.

B – > The way in which you chose was good.

Best Answer

Let me rephrase, this will make it clearer:

A - > The way which you chose was good. - > You chose a way.

This focuses on what you chose.

"Way" can be literal (choosing which road to take during a journey) or figurative (choosing how to proceed with a plan), but the key thing to remember here is that you chose a way.

B - > The way in which you chose was good. - > You chose in a way.

This focuses on your how you made the choice.

"In a way" means "in a certain manner".

It doesn't tell you anything about what the choice was. You could've been choosing a meal, your favorite color, or what shoes to wear.
The key thing to remember here is that you chose (something) in a certain way.

Examples

  1. Consider the example of picking whether to wear blue or red socks today. You make a clever choice, and I remark:

The way in which you chose was really clever!

  1. Consider the example of having to pick which road you take to work. You make a choice, and we end up avoiding traffic jams.

The way you chose had no traffic jams!

  1. (Combining the two) Consider the example of having to pick which road you take to work, in order to avoid traffic jams. You make a clever choice, and I make two remarks:
  1. The way you chose had no traffic jams!
  2. The way in which you chose to take this route was really clever!

Can you see the difference between them now?

  1. focuses on what you chose. The route to work was good.
  2. focuses on how you made the choice. Your method (of choosing the route to work) was good.
Related Topic