that or which
One final language question before bed. I get cheesed off with my spell check because it queries my use of the word "which" all the time. If I write "The events which were about to take place were to have a major impact", the spell check rejects it, claiming that in defining relative cluses only "that" is acceptable. "Which" is strictly for non-defining clauses. Is this right? Is it a difference between British or American English? Or is Windows just inventing its own rules?
Nos da etc
Jamie
posted by ronanj @ 10:33 pm
5 comments
5 Comments:
Nonsense. Some people prefer "that" to "which" because they think it's less formal and draws less attention to itself, but this is a matter of taste. The only rule as such is that you can't use "that" in non-defining relative clauses.
But you knew that already, didn't you.
Just remembered. There's the preposition rule, too. Can't use "that" after a preposition.
So there's two rules.
Except of course, when you say something like "This is a good plan, in that it helps everyone". But that's just farting around with language rules. Just came up with a stupid little story that means you can use the word "had" five times in sucession in a sentence and it makes perfect sense, though it does require inversion and a a fairly tenuous use of the word "had" in a couple of places. I really need o get a proper job. Will let you know if you wanna hear it. Kalhnyxta etc.
Jamie
Except of course, when you say something like "This is a good plan, in that it helps everyone".That's not a relative clause. It's short for "in the sense that", in which case we have an indirect statement.
Let's have the five hads then.
Right. There's this man, called Mr Had (I said there were a couple of tenuous hads in there). He lived in a very rough neighbourhood and every time he went out, he got mugged. So, one day, he bought a big dog, a Rottweiler, to protect him when he went for a walk. He called the dog "Had". (No more tenuous hads, promise).
Anyway, one night Mr Had felt like a walk, so he told his dog, Had, to go and fetch his lead. The dog was tired though, so he said "No thanks, I think I'll stay home and put my paws up with a good bone." So Mr. Had went out for a walk alone. As soon as the locals saw him alone, they took the opportunity. Because Mr. Had didn't have Had the dog with him, they mugged him. Such a shame, because had Had had Had, Had would never have got mugged.
If Mr Had's first name had been Had, we could've had six hads, but that was too tenuous even for me.
I promise to start looking for a real job on Monday.
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