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Liveinjapan Posted 19 years ago
Grammar

Who or That

0Hi, everyone. Someone said that when using a relative pronoun after the word 01font00'00the only02font00 person', they prefer to use 'that' as a relative pronoun rather than 'who'. Is that correct? For example:02br
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01i00He is the only man that we need.02br
00He is the only man that can do it.02i02br
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00I think the word 'who' or 'whom'(in the 1st sentece) still should be used, if you want to speak above sentences formally. Above sentences sound casual, don't they?02br
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00Thanks.02br
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00LiJ0-
  

Top answer

0 Hi LiJ02br 02br 00You are right. 02i 02br 02br 00In actual usage 01i 00which02i 00 and 01i 00who02i 00 are often used in the above cases. 02br 02br 02i 00Cheers02br 00CB0-

— Cool Breeze

  • 0 Hi LiJ02br 02br 00You are right.
  • 02i 02br 02br 00In actual usage 01i 00which02i 00 and 01i 00who02i 00 are often used in the above cases.
  • 02br 02br 02i 00Cheers02br 00CB0-
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7 Answers
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0 Hi LiJ02br
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00You are right. There are lots of grammarians who prefer 01i00that02i00 after 01i00only02i00, and not just 01i00only02i00 but also in some other cases:02br
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00Only: 01i00He was02i00 01i01b00the only02b00 person 0
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0 In a very formal situation, the relative pronoun 'whom' could be used. In real life conversation, though, 'who' and that' are more usual, the latter being preferred. It is also possible, and even more common, to omit the relative pronoun altogether: 01i00He is the only man we need.02i0-
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0 01blockquote
01cite10Conchita5712cite10In a very formal situation, the relative pronoun 'whom' could be used. In real life conversation, though, 'who' and that' are more usual, the latter being preferred. 11b10It is also possible, and even more common, 11font10to omit the relative pronoun altogether12font
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5000Thank you very much. You both really helped me.05100 I hope how to use these relative pronouns will be one of my strenngths.05202br
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00LiJ010id111id112id1
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0 01blockquote
01cite10Cool Breeze12cite10Hi Conchita12br
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10So in a very formal situation you would say:12br
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11i10He is the only man 11b10whom12b10 can do it.12br
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12i10(I'm referring to the original poster's sentence.) I wouldn't. Nor would
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0 01blockquote
01cite10Conchita5712cite10As to the pronoun 'that', 11font11b10it can only be omitted when it is the 11u10object 12u10of a verb12b12font10, as in the first sentence11i10. 11font11b10(Not the whole truth!)12
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0 That's what I call an exhaustive dissection. Well done, Cool Breeze!02br
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00PS: And that will teach me not to throw overall statements around so freely!0-
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