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Traviisty Posted 13 years ago
Grammar

English Grammar

Hello, I have a sentence I need help explaining/understanding. The textbook has the following sentence.

"I was the only one who couldn't hear in my family."

Wouldn't it be more appropriate to say

"I was the only one that couldn't hear in my family."

Why would the textbook use "who"? Does this have to do with antecedents?
  

Top answer

I think it has to do with recognizing the antecedent as a person . I make that distinction between 'who' and 'that'. I'd like to add, here, that I would have written the sentence as: I was the only one in my family who couldn't hear.

— Philip

  • I think it has to do with recognizing the antecedent as a person .
  • I make that distinction between 'who' and 'that'.
  • I'd like to add, here, that I would have written the sentence as: I was the only one in my family who couldn't hear.
  • As it is, I think that 'in the family' is not in the proper perspective, making it seem as though I couldn't hear in my family , but I could in other situations.
  • Picky point, but one that I'm consistent with.
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2 Answers
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I think it has to do with recognizing the antecedent as a person. I make that distinction between 'who' and 'that'.
I'd like to add, here, that I would have written the sentence as: I was the only one in my family who couldn't hear. As it is, I think that 'in the family' is not in the proper perspective, making it seem as though I couldn't hear in my family, but I could in oth
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"Who" and "that" can be used to describe a person, like in your sentence's context.

"Which" and "that" can be used to describe objects.

"Who" doesn't have to be a question word, it is grammatically correct in your textbook. It is the author's choice of which to use.
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