Which sentence correctly uses that to introduce an essential clause?

Which sentence correctly uses that to introduce an essential clause?

• A. Jennifer visited the city that she went to college.
• B. Jennifer visited the city, that she went to college.
• C. Jennifer visited the city which she went to college.
• D. Jennifer visited the city which she went to college.

Answer: (A)

When a relative clause is essential for identifying the noun, you use that to introduce it and you don’t add a comma. Here, the city is something that could be any city, but the clause that follows—“that she went to college”—tells us precisely which city is being talked about: the one where she attended college. Because this detail is necessary to specify which city, the clause is essential and should be introduced with that, with no comma. Using a comma before that would treat the clause as nonessential, which would change the meaning and is not how essential clauses are punctuated. Using which to introduce an essential clause is not the standard in this context; which is typically reserved for nonessential, and it would usually need a comma. So the correctly punctuated, essential-clause sentence uses that and omits the comma.

When a relative clause is essential for identifying the noun, you use that to introduce it and you don’t add a comma. Here, the city is something that could be any city, but the clause that follows—“that she went to college”—tells us precisely which city is being talked about: the one where she attended college. Because this detail is necessary to specify which city, the clause is essential and should be introduced with that, with no comma.

Using a comma before that would treat the clause as nonessential, which would change the meaning and is not how essential clauses are punctuated. Using which to introduce an essential clause is not the standard in this context; which is typically reserved for nonessential, and it would usually need a comma. So the correctly punctuated, essential-clause sentence uses that and omits the comma.