The Car That Ran the Light Hit Some People Who Were in the Crosswalk
The Grammar Guru’s teeth grind when she hears someone say “people that.” This rule is simple: A person is always a who, never a that. Despite its simplicity, this is one of the most often violated rules of grammar. I have seen this error in many well-respected publications. Part of the problem is that authorities are […]
It Seems That the Who/Whom Dilemma Still Affects Some of Us…
Who is the subjective or nominative case of the word; in plain English, who acts as a subject or predicate nominative…most of the time. I don’t know who you are. Who steals my purse steals trash. Whom is objective case; that is, it must be an object. It will follow a preposition or a verb […]
“That” or Not “That”…That Is the Question!
There is a movement afoot in publishing and academic circles to remove “unnecessary” instances of the word that from writing. The problem is that it is difficult to codify when that is unnecessary and when it isn’t. For example, more than half of the “experts” would omit my use of that between “problem is” and […]
That vs. Who
The Grammar Guru’s pet peeve: “people that.” This rule is simple: A person is always a who, never a that. Despite its simplicity, this is one of the most often violated rules of grammar. I have seen this error in many well-respected publications. Part of the problem is that authorities are divided, and have been […]