User talk:Nertzy (archived)

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User talk:Nertzy


Hi Nertzy--

I see you changed a "which" in something I'd written (on constituency to "that". This is just to alert you, in case you don't know, that this is one of those tiresome US/International English differences - whereas US English has for generations insisted on "that" rather than "which" in defining relative clauses, International English never has - and if you didn't grow up in the US, "which" doesn't sound wrong to you. (Fowler, the guru of British English style in the early 20th century, said that it would be much better if this rule did exist, but unfortunately it didn't, and it still doesn't.) People who write for publishers in both the US and elsewhere soon get used to editors changing this back and forth, and no-one with any sense minds - I certainly don't. But if you go round changing these systematically, you might accidentally spark off an unwanted language war. seglea 05:29, 18 Nov 2003 (UTC)