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Subject:RE: It's what It's. OH THAT ONE !! From:"Elizabeth O'Shea" <elizabeth -dot- oshea -at- virtualaccess -dot- com> To:"'Michael West'" <mbwest -at- bigpond -dot- com>, "'TECHWR-L'" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com> Date:Wed, 18 Feb 2004 10:27:30 -0000
Part of Michael West's elaboration on our that/which discussion included
this paragraph:
Complicating matters further, there is an issue of
"register" involved. Many educated British English
speakers have the notion that "which" in a restrictive
clause is more "literary" than "than"[sic]. While they might
*say* "the house that Jack built", they would "correct"
it, when writing, to "the house which Jack built."
I'd like to reiterate that, when writing technical documentation for a
European as well as a US audience, we should always use the very clear
'house that jack built' and always clarify the ambiguous 'house which
Jack built', whether our audience is 'educated' or not.
Elizabeth OShea
Documentation
Virtual Access (Irl) Ltd.
Unit 18
Trinity Enterprise Centre
Pearse Street
Dublin 2
Ireland
+++++++++++++++++++++++++
e: elizabeth -dot- oshea -at- virtualaccess -dot- com
t: +353 1 6041816
f: +353 1 6705380
