Why do we use ‘who’ or’that’ when people are talking?
How do you use who and what?
- 4 answers There
were about 10 people who went to the store, vs. 3 people that went to the store. There were 10 people that left the supermarket at midnight. Can we not consider reversing the subject and verb to ask a question and thus aid in clarifying the answer? What would be the use to ask “Who went to the store?” instead of “That went to the store?” “In
some cases I feel I need to stop doing it!”
What does reversing subject and verb mean? How do I remove the subject from the meaning as a subject?
What you propose may be helpful in one sense, but not in another. I can imagine somebody saying ‘That went to the store’ and pointing at a person. I get a cold shoulder. On page 4 an important meaning will be understood.
In the verbal that, with the accompanying finger pointing and tone of disgust, there is an implied judgment that the person in question is somehow less deserving of “personhood” than other people. Do I use “Who” instead of “He” as I have to, or a “friendly” personal pronoun?
Which brings things back to the commonly assumed difference between who and that, where the latter is used for a subject with consciousness and the latter for one without. Essa is no need for rephrasing when it’s still the same distinction being made anyway. And there is explicit emphasis on that to flag its use as a relative pronoun, asking “That went to the store?” is ungrammatical. So,
yes. When I am talking about people, I generally use names or a number (no particularity). How is pets portrayed? Why are there so many inanimate objects (a car, a ship, etc.) with which we’ve invested some form of personhood? In general (and discussion of non-gender pronouns aside), if we say “she” or “he” when talking about someone or something, then we are using who. Otherwise, we are using that.
To snish or to use relative pronouns when talking about a person, nay they do come in short form. But although it’s more common, there is no rule that says we cannot use that as a relative pronoun when talking about a person. What is true is that the word has a connotation that is not ungrammatical. How should I use “who” when talking about random people and not “people”?
Here’s something else interesting (although somewhat unrelated): “We are currently using who for inanimate objects. We can actually use who inanimate objects?” There’s nothing wrong with the sentence “The house whose rooms are filled with junk. It would normally not be phrased that way.) But, at the same time (except in the context of a horror book or movie), we would not say “The house who sat empty.” Which
actually means that although we’re always able to substitute there for who (not that we necessarily want to),we are unable to always substitute who for that…
The “that” at the beginning of relativity clauses does not necessarily refer to anything, in which case it shouldn’t matter whether the relative clause modifies a person or not. The fact that “he left is surprising” is one alternative to the analysis of this “that” as a relative pronoun. ” This accounts for why it only occurs at the beginning of a relative clause, unlike a real relative pronoun.
Should all references be to the root?
