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Use of "THAT"

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Use of "THAT"

by prachich1987 » Wed Jan 05, 2011 12:36 am
Is the below sentence grammatically correct?

When the office of the Commissioner of Baseball was created in 1920,it was entrusted with power beyond its predecessor,the National Commission ,which was composed of Commission Chairman and the presidents of the two leagues that were within its jurisdiction.

I read somewhere in MGMAT SC that we cannot use "that" when referring to people.But in the above sentence "that" has been used to refer to the chairman & president.Isn't it wrong?
This sentence is from one of Princeton SC exercises.
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by Geva@EconomistGMAT » Wed Jan 05, 2011 1:44 am
1) "that" actually refers to the leagues, not the chairman and the presidents - a relative clause modifies the noun directly preceding it.

2) There's no actual problem with using "that" to refer to people, although "who" is indeed preferable.
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by prachich1987 » Wed Jan 05, 2011 1:47 am
Geva@MasterGMAT wrote:1) "that" actually refers to the leagues, not the chairman and the presidents - a relative clause modifies the noun directly preceding it.

2) There's no actual problem with using "that" to refer to people, although "who" is indeed preferable.
Thanks Geva!
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by prachich1987 » Wed Jan 05, 2011 2:01 am
Geva@MasterGMAT wrote:1) "that" actually refers to the leagues, not the chairman and the presidents - a relative clause modifies the noun directly preceding it.

2) There's no actual problem with using "that" to refer to people, although "who" is indeed preferable.
Does it mean that we cannot reject a certain option based on the only fact that it uses "that" to refer to people.
Please advise.
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by Geva@EconomistGMAT » Wed Jan 05, 2011 2:22 am
prachich1987 wrote:
Geva@MasterGMAT wrote:1) "that" actually refers to the leagues, not the chairman and the presidents - a relative clause modifies the noun directly preceding it.

2) There's no actual problem with using "that" to refer to people, although "who" is indeed preferable.
Does it mean that we cannot reject a certain option based on the only fact that it uses "that" to refer to people.
Please advise.
Yes. It means that an option which replaces 'that' with 'who' may be marginally better, but I'd look for stronger reasons to choose one over the other.

The same is not true for "which", which is used exclusively for non-people.
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by Whitney Garner » Wed Jan 05, 2011 5:51 am
prachich1987 wrote:I read somewhere in MGMAT SC that we cannot use "that" when referring to people.But in the above sentence "that" has been used to refer to the chairman & president.Isn't it wrong?
This sentence is from one of Princeton SC exercises.
Hi Prachich1987!

Note that the MGMAT SC book expresses the following about the relative pronoun "that":
ManhattanGMAT Sentence Correction Strategy Guide 4th ed, p.87 wrote:"According to the GMAT, clauses led by the pronoun that cannot modify people. Other grammatical authorities disagree, but what matters on test day is the GMAT's point of view."
It is perfectly acceptable to use the word that to refer to people in common speech. In fact Merriam-Webster's states:
MW, 11th ed Collegiate, p.1294 wrote:"The notion that "that" should not be used to refer to persons is without foundation; such use is entirely standard."


Reviewing previous OG problems, however, indicates a GMAT preference for only using "who" with people and "that" with groups or things.

Hope this clears that up a bit for you!
:)
Whit
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by prachich1987 » Wed Jan 05, 2011 5:54 am
Thanks Whitney.
It helps!
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by 800target » Wed Jan 05, 2011 7:35 am
Hi Prachi,

Just to add some small notes, I found in OG&GPrep, to the above and sum up:

Although there is no one single rule to cover all the cases, the following summary may be helpful if you need to make a quick decision:
1. Use that if the main clause poses the question WHAT? answered by the relative clause;
2. Do not use that presenting non-essential, additional information (that is, in non-defining relative clauses); use who or which instead;
3. Use who to refer to people;
4. Use which to refer to things or to refer to the previous clause as a whole;
My fjriend eventually decided to get divorced, which upset me a lot.
5. If you choose between who or that, use who in writing;
6. If you choose between which and that, use which in writing;

Rather than all above, remember this important rule for GMAT:
Remember the difference between That/ Which as relative pronoun vs That as a conjunction w. r to Clauses.
We never introduce a Non Restrictive Clause (set off with commas) with that.
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