"who" vs. "that"

[Amy West]

When I first noticed this when I started teaching composition, I
asked the question "What Would Gil Do?" So I checked MWDEU, read the
entry, and thereafter trod very lightly where I saw "that" used where
I would have chosen "who".

---Amy West

>Date:    Sun, 26 Jul 2009 09:54:40 -0700
>From:    Arnold Zwicky <zwicky at STANFORD.EDU>
>Subject: Re: "who" vs. "that"
>
>MWDEU's summary:
>
>    In current usage, _that_ refers to persons or things, _which_
>chiefly to things and rarely to subhuman animals, _who_ chiefly to
>persons and sometimes to animals.  _That_ is definitely standard when
>used of persons.

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