Posted by EngliPatrick · January 9, 2008 · 2 replies
Correct me if I'm wrong but this is how I see using relative clauses. Sentences that start with nouns that aren't people, you can use 'that/which' interchangably, but when the noun is a person, you use 'that/who' interchangably.
For example:
1. Tokyo is a city that/which is located in Japan.
2. Ichiro is a baseball player who/that plays baseball in America.
Generally speaking, is this correct?
Got me thinking.....the way you classified the usage is how I think if it, but sometimes I know "that" or "which" just sounds odd in a clause for some reason that I can't really define....so browsed a bit and found this snippet on that/which in relative clauses. It might be a bit old, but it was sort of an "ah, so" moment for me.
§ 62. that. 1. Grammar. The American Heritage Book of English Usage. 1996
Thanks for that link! I'm going to use it on my website. 🙂
