Thatvs.

Who

In the Beginning … What do two copy editors, one TESOL instructor, and one undergraduate

English major have in common?

– A thorough understanding, perhaps a hang up, on the “rules” of English grammar.

• As we were sharing our favorite grammar pet peeves, Amy mentioned the idiom “the one THAT got away” and how she thought it should be “the one WHO got away.”

• As our group thought about this, we recalled a simple prescriptive “rule” for relative pronouns: who is for people, that is for objects.

• We decided to pursue this further and posed several hypotheses.

Research Questions

1. What is the historical trend in usage between these two relative pronouns?

2. What is the current trend between these two relative pronouns?

3. Do students follow the rules of usage for “who” and “that”?

Survey of Literature• While we started out with a prescriptive rule in mind, we were quickly

reminded that rules are made to be broken and that language is infinitely more complex than a set a prescriptive rules.

• Lynch and Good agree with the “prescriptive rule,” but many sources do not espouse such a rule.

• For instance, In the oldest grammar guide we could find, written by Lindley Murray in 1808, we found that it stated, “Who is applied to persons, which to animals and inanimate things…” and “That, as a relative, is often used to prevent too frequent repetition of who and which”

• In our Leech and Svartvik book, they write, “That is used with both personal and non - personal reference. However, it cannot follow a preposition, and is not usually used in non - restrictive relative clauses” (386).

• Furthermore, Paul Brian, author of Common Errors in English Usage, says, interestingly, “An aversion to “that” referring to human beings as somehow diminishing their humanity may be praiseworthily sensitive, but it cannot claim the authority of tradition. In some sentences, “that” is clearly preferable to “who…”

More History• The Merriam-Webster Dictionary of English

Usage supports Brian’s opinion saying, “that was the first relative pronoun, existing at least since Middle English. Which came next, followed by who(m); both already existed in the language, but only began to be used as relative pronouns in the 14th and 15th centuries”.

Revised Research Questions• With no hard and fast rule seemingly accepted,

we had to revise our third hypothesis.1. What is the historical trend in usage of

these two relative pronouns?

2. What is the current trend in usage of these two relative pronouns?

3. *Do students appear to follow any “rule” when using who and that?*

Methodology

• Research question 1: “What is the historical trend in usage between these two relative pronouns?”

• To look at any historical trend with these two, we used COHA and Google’s NGRAM

Google Ngram Results

“Person who” vs. “Person that”

Methodology

• Research question 2: “What is the current trend of these two relative pronouns?”

• To look at the current trends with these two, we used COCA

COCA Results; 2000-2011

“Person who” vs. “Person that”

tokens

person whoperson that

5,483

1,211

Methodology

• Revised research question 3: “Do students appear to follow any “rule” when using who and that?”

• To examine this, we administered surveys to 93 students (77 Native English speakers and 16 Non-native)

Survey• Our survey questions were crafted to test different

aspects/conditions of the usage of “who” vs. “that.” • These included :

– Abstraction

– Identity

– Literature

– Idiomatic Expression

– & Testing Against a Rule

Survey• Our survey consists of 12 questions* and was

administered to 93 students • The students are pupils of Allen, Michael, and

Amy’s classes• Each question was chosen with an expected

answer, which made the results very interesting.

• Every question had the answer choices of either A. who or B. that

Survey

• Our first question came straight from L&S: – The workers _ were on strike made a deal

with their company.– A. 60 ~65%– B. 33 ~35%

Survey

• Question two came from The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz, 1959

• “…Take while I’m in an offering mood. I’m not the Red Cross _ you can call at any emergency.” -Richler– A. 44 ~47%– B. 49 ~ 53%

Survey

• The third question also came from a work of literature. However, this work by Shakespeare is much older than the previous one, but that is once again the relative pronoun used.– “I’ll make a ghost of him _ lets me.”

Shakespeare, Hamlet– A. 71~ 76%– B. 22 ~ 24%

Survey

• Our fourth question is very interesting because it is an idiomatic expression– She is the one _ got away.– A. 51~55%– B. 42~ 45%

Survey

• Question five is another question that came from our L&S book– He is a guy _ always answers e-mail.– A. 66 ~ 71%– B. 27 ~ 29%

Survey• Abstraction & Identity

# Question StudentResponses

% COCAtokens

1. Who The workers _ were on strike made a deal with their company.

60 65 161That 33 35 21

7. Who I’m a person _ loves babies. 60 65 2806That 33 35 395

8. Who I don’t trust people _ hate babies.

40 43 72857That 53 57 14285

Survey• Literature# Question Student

Responses % COCA

tokens

2. Who “Take while I’m in an offering mood. I’m not the Red Cross _ you can call at any emergency.” –Richler, The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz, 1959

44 47%

That 49 53%

3. Who “I’ll make a ghost of him _ lets me.” –Shakespeare, Hamlet

71 76%

That 22 24%

Survey• Idiomatic Expression

# Question StudentResponses

% COCAtokens

4. Who She is the one _ got away

51 55% 12

That 42 45% 48

Survey• Testing Against a Rule# Question Student

Responses % COCA

tokens5. Who He is a guy _ always

answers e-mail. 66 71% 3425That 27 29% 522

6. Who In my English class, we are reading authors _ nobody’s ever read.

25 27% 295That 68 73% 58

Survey• Testing Against a Rule Cont.# Question Student

Responses % COCA

tokens

9. Who The man _ he caught is in jail.

38 41% 8086

That 55 59% 504

10. Who The police officer _ caught the thief received a commendation.

49 55% 264That 40 45% 34

So What?

This MAY relate to the Industrial Revolution, the boom in education, and grammars like Murray’s (which become hyper-rule based when taught,

creating the “strict form” of who=people and that=objects).