"who" vs. "that"

[Lynne Murphy]

Using 'that' for animates was something that I perceived British writers as
doing more than American ones...but maybe it's just the undergraduate
phenomenon that Jonathan's mentioned here, as it's undergraduate writing
I've been reading.  I did, though, perceive my UK students as doing it more
in 2000 (when I moved here) than I had perceived my Texan students as doing
it the previous year.  Sticks in my mind (along with 'whilst', which I
still haven't recovered from) as something that annoyed me (oh, the
descriptivist's shame) when I first moved here.

Lynne

--On 26 July 2009 11:22 -0400 Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at GMAIL.COM>
wrote:

> 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:
>
>> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
>> -----------------------
>> 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>:
>>
>> > ---------------------- Information from the mail header
>> > -----------------------
>> > 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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>> >
>>
>>
>>
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Dr M Lynne Murphy
Senior Lecturer in Linguistics
Arts B357
University of Sussex
Brighton BN1 9QN

phone: +44-(0)1273-678844
http://separatedbyacommonlanguage.blogspot.com

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