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Subject:RE: It's what It's. OH THAT ONE !! From:Mailing List <mlist -at- ca -dot- rainbow -dot- com> To:'Dana Worley' <dana -at- campbellsci -dot- com>, TECHWR-L <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com> Date:Wed, 18 Feb 2004 13:41:28 -0500
Dana Worley [mailto:dana -at- campbellsci -dot- com] recalled:
> On 17 Feb 2004 at 12:10, Bonnie Granat wrote:
>
> > Examples:
> > ---------
> >
> > UK: The book which you took yesterday.
> >
> > Am: The book that you took yesterday.
> > _____
> >
> > Both are correct (but for different audiences).
>
> I had a professor who made us go through our papers after they
> were complete and do a search on the word "that". Any use of the
> word that wasn't absolutely necessary had to be deleted or she
> would reduce our grade. Therefore, in her eyes, the only correct
> version of the sentence above is, "The book you took yesterday."
Your prof probably never met a person who was not totally
proficient in English -- at least not one that she suffered
gladly (which leaves out hapless students...).
I have it on reliable testimony that proper use of "that"
makes many English sentences easier to parse than the same
sentences without "that". Some of the people who have made
the statement or chosen between samples of both options
have included native speakers of French, Polish, Russian,
Hungarian, Farsi, Spanish, and a bunch more.
Your professor sounds like the people (especially
managers, reviewers and "editors") that we warn each other
against, on this list and on CE-L.
"I have a /d/r/e/a/m/ rule! A rule that one day our children
can live in a world without 'that'."
