RE: that vs who

["Combs, Richard" <richard -dot- combs -at- Polycom -dot- com>]

Peter Neilson wrote: 
 
> "Any user >who< desires good results follows the instructions
carefully."
> 
> "Any user >that< desires good results follows the instructions
carefully."

>From a Random House Dictionary usage note (at dictionary.com): 

"Some grammarians have argued that only who and not that should be used
to introduce a restrictive relative clause that identifies a person.
This restriction has no basis either in logic or in the usage of the
best writers; it is entirely acceptable to write either the woman that
wanted to talk to you or the woman who wanted to talk to you."

I prefer "who" except when multiple instances of it make a sentence
harder to parse. Sometimes changing the pronoun clarifies the
relationships. 

But in any situation remotely like the example, I'd solve the problem by
changing the sentence from third person to second: 

"For good results, follow the instructions carefully." 

Richard


Richard G. Combs
Senior Technical Writer
Polycom, Inc.
richardDOTcombs AT polycomDOTcom
303-223-5111
------
rgcombs AT gmailDOTcom
303-777-0436
------






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