add "that/which" to Style Guide > Commonly ConfusedWords

[Kyle Nitzsche]

Howdy,

I hate grammatical rules -- unless they preserve the ability to make  
useful semantic distinctions.

If "which" is used when "that" should be, the reader may not know what  
the intended meaning is.

Consider this: "The car which I bought last year is a lemon." (An  
"error," from my perspective.)

Does it mean:
--Of the cars here, the one I bought last year is a lemon.
--Or: I bought a car last year, and it is a lemon.

One can't tell.

So, I try to follow the "traditional" grammatical guideline in such  
cases:
--"The car that I bought last year is a lemon" means: Of the cars  
here, the one I bought last year is a lemon.
--"The car, which I bought last year, is a lemon" means: I bought a  
car last year, and it is a lemon.

That's why I propose adding the clarifying material to the style guide.

Cheers,
Kyle



On Jan 3, 2008, at 7:23 PM, Andrew Mathenge wrote:

> I think that I'd tend to agree with Matthew on this one. I believe  
> (and I'm not a native English speaker) that the following two  
> sentences would be correct in my mind:
>
> The car that I bought last year is a lemon.
> The car, which I bought last year, is a lemon.
>
> I suppose that in very strict grammar there's a rule about those two  
> words regarding "restrictive clauses" and "non-restrictive clauses"  
> but I'm sure that over time that rule has been relaxed.
>
> Therefore I'd tend to agree that we don't include it also.
>
> Andrew.
>
>
>
> On Jan 3, 2008 6:08 PM, Matthew East <mdke at ubuntu.com > wrote:
> Hi,
>
> On Jan 3, 2008 7:55 PM, Kyle Nitzsche < kyle.nitzsche at canonical.com>  
> wrote:
> > Hi,
> >
> > I'd like to propose adding the following to the Documentation Style
> > Guide, Commonly Confused Words section.
> > ( http://wiki.ubuntu.com/DocumentationTeam/StyleGuide/CommonlyConfusedWords
> >   )
> >
> > "
> > that, which
> >
> > These words often start phrases that modify a preceding noun, but  
> the
> > wrong one is sometimes used. For example, the following is  
> incorrect:
> > The car which crashed is red. Use that to start a phrase that
> > restricts the modified noun to a particular instance or set, and do
> > not enclose the phrase in commas. Use which to add additional
> > information about the noun, and enclose the phrase in commas.
> >
> > Examples: The car that crashed is red. The car, which I own, is red.
> > "
> >
> > Is there a procedure for suggesting/making changes to the Style  
> Guide?
>
> I guess this is it!
>
> I have to say, I have always found the distinction between "that" and
> "which" unnecessary and I don't follow it myself when writing.
>
> I'd much prefer that we simplify the style guide if possible, and
> adding rules which are probably a bit nit picky will complicate it
> without a good reason: there are already a wealth of rules in there
> and quite frankly I don't think that we can expect all of our
> contributors to religiously adhere to each of them.
>
> If there is an outcry in support of this rule or there are some
> prominent authorities which support it then I guess we could consider
> this, but my initial reaction is against adding it.
>
> What do others think?
>
> --
> Matthew East
> http://www.mdke.org
> gnupg pub 1024D/0E6B06FF
>
> --
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>
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