Dennis Baron's Web of Language and the Language Log are two language blogs that I read regularly. They're among the best written and informed of the many that are out there. Herb -----Original Message----- From: Assembly for the Teaching of English Grammar [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Linda Di Desidero Sent: 2008-03-09 11:42 To: [log in to unmask] Subject: That/Which Rule post from WPA Hi, all Here's a post that came through the WPA listserv on the origin of 'that/which' THAT I thought you might like. Linda ----------------------------------------------------- There's a new post on the Web of Language -- Happy Birthday, Henry Fowler: inventor of that/which rule is 150 on Monday, March 10 March 10, 2008, is the 150th birthday of Henry Watson Fowler, high school Latin teacher, lexicographer, and author of the Dictionary of Modern English Usage (1926), the most important book on English usage of the 20th century (sorry Strunk and White, you lose hands down). So here's my e-card to the man who single-handedly invented the difference between that and which and convinced thousands of copy editors that Druids had carved it on an ancient pillar at Stonehenge.... (picture here -- you have to go onlline to see it) Actually, Fowler never hid the fact that he wasn't given the that/ which rule on Mt. Sinai. Quite the opposite: he insisted that "the relations between that, who, & which have come to us from our forefathers as an odd jumble, & plainly show that the language has not been neatly constructed by a master-builder" (Modern English Usage, 1926, that, s.v.; I'm not going to recount Fowler's rule here, because it's too complicated, requiring a discussion of restrictive and nonrestrictive clauses that's not particularly entertaining). So Fowler decided to improve this jumble because, as he put it, "the temptation to show how better use might have been made of the material to hand is sometimes irresistible.".... Read the rest at the Web of Language DB Dennis Baron Professor of English and Linguistics Department of English University of Illinois 608 S. Wright St. Urbana, IL 61801 Linda Di Desidero, Ph.D. Associate Professor Assistant Academic Director of Writing University of Maryland University College 3501 University Boulevard, East Adelphi, MD 20783 ________________________________ To join or leave this LISTSERV list, please visit the list's web interface at: http://listserv.muohio.edu/archives/ateg.html and select "Join or leave the list" Visit ATEG's web site at http://ateg.org/ To join or leave this LISTSERV list, please visit the list's web interface at: http://listserv.muohio.edu/archives/ateg.html and select "Join or leave the list" Visit ATEG's web site at http://ateg.org/