Since my English Teacher corrected my in an essay I wrote last year, now I have an ear to hear people say this everyday and it drives me nuts. When someone say a sentence like, "I am the one who" or "He's the one who", should they really be saying, "I am the one that" or "He's the one that"? I think that proper English would require one to use the word "that" to describe the action that is being described, but how come so many people say the word "who" in place of "that" I am the one that went to the store. You are the guy that picked your nose. She is the one that stole my idea. Are we to introduce the next word with "that" or are we still referring to the preson with "who"? Like I said, this drives me nuts now eversince I was corrected on my essay. Now I hear it said with the word "who" several times a day and never noticed it before.
If the pronoun refers to a person (as in the example you mention) then "who" is correct. So many people would use the word "that" (mistakenly), though, that it's become almost acceptable to do so, and many people wouldn't even notice that it's incorrect usage. All three of these are incorrect. In each case "who" should be substituted for "that" (and would be by a publisher's editor).
Live organisms ( peoples ) => "who" Computer, your post, etc. => "that" Even I know it ( I'm not from US or any other English speaking countries ) ..
if, "I am the one who went to the store" , then why would I not also be "the one that went to the store" this is what confuses me; "I am the one who" (referencing myself) or "that went to the store" (referencing the action)
As you already saw - "your the one who went to the store" and "he is the one who went to store" .. What you don't understand ?
I think you meant "you're" as in "you are" not "your" which refers to ownership. Look closely at the sentence. "who" describes the person, but "that" describes the action or topic of the sentence. Would you describe your action as a who or a that? What is the topic; the person or the action?
Who went to store ? - You .. So why you should replace it with "that" ? ** About "your" - that's what I call "Internet language"
Hi Lavinco, I think I understand your point of confusion here. With respect, you're slightly misleading yourself. I'll try to explain how ... It's not actually about whether the "item referenced" is a person or an action. In both cases, the "item referenced" is a person, and in both cases the mode of reference is a classification according to action the person took. It's simpler than it looks, really! It's just that the personal pronoun "who/whom" is always used when its reference is human. I'm afraid many people do. That, or "textspeak". The reality, I suspect, is that they all happened to miss school the day the differences between "your" and "you're", and "their", "there" and "they're" were explained. But hey, that's why publishers sometimes employ people like me, so who am I to complain?
One more thing - writing style depends on what keyboard layout you are using ! For example - I've added Latvian as my default language and if I want to use ' symbol - I need to press <'> + <backspace> + <'>
Sveiks! That Eurobaltic typeface is so inconvenient, isn't it? And just wait till you see the Dvorak version of it. Ar sveicienu ...
A strange feeling to see these words in a place like this ( I mean, most of peoples even don't know where is Latvia ) .. Thanks