"who" vs. "that"

[Jonathan Lighter]

I believe I mentioned long ago that my undergraduates over a period of
decades *rarely* used relative "who," in writing or anywhere else.  "That"
was the nearly the universal choice.

There was also a very small proportion who used "which" in writing (as used
in the Lord's Prayer), though I never noticed it in their speech.

I now see it rather often on the Net, however.

JL
On Sun, Jul 26, 2009 at 11:02 AM, Heather Marie Kosur <hmkosur at ilstu.edu>wrote:

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> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Heather Marie Kosur <hmkosur at ILSTU.EDU>
> Subject:      Re: "who" vs. "that"
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Bill,
>
> There is a prescription for who versus that. However, as a
> prescriptive rule, it is clearly not reflective of actual use. I
> actually just wrote on this subject in my Hubfolio:
>
> http://www.brighthub.com/hubfolio/heather-marie-kosur/articles/40212.aspx
>
> Hope that answers your question!
>
> Heather
>
> ~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-
> Heather Marie Kosur
> Illinois State University
> Milner Library
> Processing/Conservation
> Campus Box 8900
> 201 North School Street
> Normal, Illinois 61790-8900
> (309) 438-5941
> hmkosur at ilstu.edu
>
>
> Quoting Bill Palmer <w_a_palmer at BELLSOUTH.NET>:
>
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> > Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> > Poster:       Bill Palmer <w_a_palmer at BELLSOUTH.NET>
> > Subject:      "who" vs. "that"
> >
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> >
> > A current Kellogg's Special K commercial claims, "Research shows women =
> > THAT eat breakfast have fewer problems with weight" (last few words may =
> > not be exactly right, but you get the picture)
> >
> > I would have said "...women WHO...", because it just sounds more =
> > natural.  Are there any "prescriptions" for this?
> >
> > Bill Palmer
> >
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