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You can never stop people who are wiling to die

May I use "that" instead of "who"?

J.R.
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dennylv
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2 Answers2

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I have read and confirmed it in many places - both are okay though some believe that who-goes-with-people rule is still better. Nevertheless, that is a relative pronoun there so it'll also work.

Well, my personal choice is who as that (though serving as a relative pronoun) does not look used for a human/living thing as compared to who

Further reading here

J.R.
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Maulik V
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  • Your reference says: It is "entirely" acceptable to write either the man that wanted to talk to you, or the man who wanted to talk to you - See more at: http://www.quickanddirtytips.com/education/grammar/who-versus-that#sthash.YuMAHLuL.dpuf – Lucian Sava Mar 05 '14 at 07:42
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    I already said both are okay in my very first sentence! I then talked about my personal opinion. And the link is for further reading. – Maulik V Mar 05 '14 at 07:53
  • I don't think this is as hotly divisive as the article implies. They are interchangeable and most English speakers will not notice. That said, you frequently see "who" as a relative pronoun in hyperbole than in everyday speech. – Metagrapher Mar 05 '14 at 08:09
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    This aligns with my view on the subject. In writing, I often find myself changing that to who in my second draft, simply because it sounds a little better. In speech, sometimes that will come out of my mouth, and it still passes as acceptable speech. – J.R. Mar 05 '14 at 09:25
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‘That’ in your case is a pronoun which can replace the pronoun who.
Generally it is used as the subject or object of a relative clause, especialy one defining or restricting the antecedent, sometimes replaceable by who, whom, or which: the horse that he bought, the man that came, etc.

Lucian Sava
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  • who and whom actually have specific use cases with which often native English speakers are not even familiar. for posterity, here are those rules: http://www.grammarbook.com/grammar/whovwhom.asp – Metagrapher Mar 05 '14 at 08:01
  • @Metagrapher Oh, I'm so sorry. I'm also answering/editing the similar question of who/whom. This was my misunderstanding. – Maulik V Mar 05 '14 at 09:28
  • @Metagrapher Yeah. It was this - http://ell.stackexchange.com/questions/18420/whom-did-she-invite-or-who-did-she-invite – Maulik V Mar 05 '14 at 09:30
  • @MaulikV Oh, you were asking the question? I shall provide an answer then :) – Metagrapher Mar 05 '14 at 09:31