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Teo Posted 19 years ago
Grammar

the only person who/that

01. In my family, my sister is 01b01i00the only person who02i02b00 loves chocolate.02br
02br
002. In my family, my sister is 01b01i00the only person that02i02b00 loves chocolate.02br
02br
00Which of the above sentences is more natural?0-
  

Top answer

02br 02br 00 CJ0-

— CalifJim

  • 02br 02br 00 CJ0-
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7 Answers
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0 I find both of them natural, but I'd say the first is better.02br
02br
00 CJ0-
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0 I agree with CJ on this. See the hits at the New York Times: 02br
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00 113 from nytimes.com for "the only person that"02br
00 3,340 from nytimes.com for "the only person who".0-
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0I also feel that 01i00the only person who02i00 seems more common than 01i00the only person that;02i00 however, can anyone tell me why the following quotations are just the opposite?02br
02br
00The following is quoted from 01i00A Comprehensive Grammar of the English Language,02i00 page 1251. 02br
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0 Aren't they synonyms? =)0-
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0 Many people (including me) prefer to use "who" instead of "that" for people whenever possible. 0-
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0 01blockquote
01cite10Teo12cite10The following is quoted from 11i10A Comprehensive Grammar of the English Language,12i10 page 1251. 12br
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10When the antecedent is modified by a superlative or by one of the post-determiners 11i10first, last, next, only12i10, the relative pronoun as
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#2 sounds more natural to me

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