On Thu, 10 Feb 2005 18:42:28 -0800, Miss Elaine Eos
<Misc@*your-shoes*PlayNaked.com> wrote:
> In article <3706snF58epfsU1@individual.net>,
> "I. R. Khan" <ir_khan@hotmail.com> wrote:
>
>> Thanks again. I want to write something like this:
>>
>> "In a graphics application, the roadsigns THAT offer directions are
>> generally represented by an image file. To reduce the size of data, we will
>> represent these signs by a small text file and a single color."
>>
>> Is the usage of THAT correct, or should it be THOSE or WHICH?
>
> Not "those." "That" works, as does "which." Which may be more formal.
Nice ambiguity there <g>. Did you mean "The word 'which' may be more
formal", or was it a continuation of the previous sentence and meant
"The latter may be more formal"? Of course, in this case the meaning is
identical, which to me makes it even more amusing as a play on words...
> It also MIGHT be the British preferred, but you'd have to ask one of
> them to be sure ;)
/I/ prefer 'which', although Fowler, Partridge et al. say that 'that' is
preferred in British English. As I recall Partridge ("English Usage and
Abusage") has always favoured 'that' whereas Fowler ("Modern English
Usage") originally favoured 'which' or at least considered them equally
correct and changed in modern editions, but I don't have my copies at
hand to check.
(I disagree with Partridge in several cases, he may have documented how
the words are commonly used but I dispute that the other (frequently
older) usages like 'which' are 'incorrect'. However, I am biased, many
of my common usages are of the 'older' form, sometimes listed as
'archaic' or 'obsolete'...)
Chris C (UK)
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