I would not use 'that'. I understand this is not the subject under discussion, but the friend is a person, not an object so requires a personal pronoun. One could say "...if he had someone he could play with." Caroline On Tue, 19 Sep 2000, Johanna Rubba wrote: > "(1)The little child is lonely; he would be happier if he had someone that > he can play with." > > Do any of the native speakers on this list find this sentence > grammatical? I can't imagine this being acceptable to anyone, but maybe > I'm wrong. The 'that' clause requires 'could'. > > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ > Johanna Rubba Assistant Professor, Linguistics > English Department, California Polytechnic State University > One Grand Avenue • San Luis Obispo, CA 93407 > Tel. (805)-756-2184 • Fax: (805)-756-6374 • Dept. Phone. 756-259 > • E-mail: [log in to unmask] • Home page: http://www.calpoly.edu/~jrubba > ** > "Understanding is a lot like sex; it's got a practical purpose, > but that's not why people do it normally" - Frank Oppenheimer > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ >