On page 110 at the bottom of the page a bullet point states, "Don't use that or which for people-instead, use who." Then on page 112 it states, "That and whose can refer to people or other types of nouns".
Can "that" be used for people or not?
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- CHRISTOPHERJ205
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- RonPurewal
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Re: Foundations of Verbal, "that"
in FORMAL WRITING, modifiers starting with "that" should not describe people.
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in INFORMAL and/or SPOKEN English, on the other hand, the use of "that" for people is VERY common.
for instance, if someone SAYS "the woman that I told you a story about" (...or writes such a thing on a blog, or somewhere else with informal style), that usage is not going to raise any eyebrows. it's totally normal -- and perfectly acceptable -- to use "that" this way, in spoken and/or informal language.
in formal writing, this would be "the woman about whom I told you a story". no one would actually SAY these words (or write them informally), unless she/he was clearly trying to make fun of someone.
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in INFORMAL and/or SPOKEN English, on the other hand, the use of "that" for people is VERY common.
for instance, if someone SAYS "the woman that I told you a story about" (...or writes such a thing on a blog, or somewhere else with informal style), that usage is not going to raise any eyebrows. it's totally normal -- and perfectly acceptable -- to use "that" this way, in spoken and/or informal language.
in formal writing, this would be "the woman about whom I told you a story". no one would actually SAY these words (or write them informally), unless she/he was clearly trying to make fun of someone.
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