My thanks for your article “Is This World Always Necessary?” regarding the word “that”. While reading it, something occurred to me: the word “that” as a relative pronoun.

I’d always been told that when referring to inanimate objects, such as computers, tables, scissors, etc., I should use “that” as a relative pronoun; when speaking about plants and animals, I should use “which” as a relative pronoun; BUT, when speaking about human beings, I MUST use the relative pronouns “who”, “whom” and “whose”. When one stops to think about it, for a human being to be called a “that” would be rather de-humanizing, right?

In any event, I thank you for this particular aticle.

John F. Tashjian