That or Who?

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Sarita

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Here's the sample:

"want to return the body of the man that was killed at..."
"want to return the body of the man who was killed at..."

This has Joanne (jdkiggins) and I scratching our grammatical heads. Should the who/that refer back to the body or the man in this sentence? Blah!

Grammar Mavens, HELP!
 

Sarita

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Indeed. That's what we thought, but my Dad seems to think "that" is better. I was looking for back up and for some sound reasoning. "Because Reph and Patti said so" sounds good to me!
 

Jamesaritchie

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Saritams8 said:
Here's the sample:

"want to return the body of the man that was killed at..."
"want to return the body of the man who was killed at..."

This has Joanne (jdkiggins) and I scratching our grammatical heads. Should the who/that refer back to the body or the man in this sentence? Blah!

Grammar Mavens, HELP!



Who. People are always "who," animals and objects are always "that." You would write "want to return the body of the DOG THAT was killed at..."

The lightning bolt THAT struck him.
The dog THAT bit him.

But

The man WHO struck him.
The man WHO bit him.
 

maestrowork

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Saritams8 said:
Here's the sample:

"want to return the body of the man that was killed at..."
"want to return the body of the man who was killed at..."

This has Joanne (jdkiggins) and I scratching our grammatical heads. Should the who/that refer back to the body or the man in this sentence? Blah!

Grammar Mavens, HELP!

Who.

"That" would refer to the "body" -- it would be weird, because you can't kill a body.
 
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