‘Who’ vs. ‘That’: How to Use ‘Who’ and ‘That’ Correctly

“Who” and “that” can both function as pronouns, while “that” has several additional uses. In general, the word “who” refers to people, while the word “that” refers to things and sometimes people.

You can use “who” and “that” in two types of relative clauses:

1. 1. Restrictive relative clause: A restrictive relative clause provides information about the noun the relative pronoun refers to and affects the meaning of the sentence. Relative pronouns—including “who,” “whom,” “that,” and “which”—introduce a relative clause, a kind of dependent clause that modifies a noun in an independent clause. For example, “The book that he read is four-hundred pages long.” In this sentence, “that” is a relative pronoun describing the book.
2. 2. Non-restrictive relative clause: A non-restrictive relative clause, or a nonessential clause, uses a proper noun or a common noun to refer to a specific thing. When referring to a particular person or thing, the pronoun is demonstrative. Commas separate non-restrictive relative clauses from the main clause, and you can remove a non-restrictive clause from a sentence without affecting its meaning. For example, “The woman, who is wearing the polka-dot dress, is next in line at the bakery.” In this sentence, the relative pronoun “who” describes the specific woman in the bakery.

Generally, styles and dictionaries allow “that” to refer to people, places, animals, and things, and “who” strictly for people and animals. Different style guides have varying grammar rules:

• Chicago Manual of Style: This style allows “who” for people and animals, and stipulates that the word “that” is for objects only.
• AP Style and APA Style: The Associated Press style and the American Psychological Association slightly differ from the Chicago style in that “who” should only be used for humans and animals with a specific name. “That” should be used for inanimate objects and animals without a name.

You can use the word “who” as a relative pronoun in reference to human beings and animals, as in “The man who won the lottery is outside.” You can also use the word “who” as an interrogative pronoun to ask questions. For example, “Who scored the winning touchdown?”

You can use the word “that” as a relative pronoun or a demonstrative pronoun, adjective, conjunction, or adverb:

• Relative pronoun: Use “that” to refer to people, animals, things, and places. For example, “The bike that has a wicker basket belongs to Anna.” Here, “that” is a relative pronoun describing the bike.
• Demonstrative pronoun: You can use “that” as a demonstrative pronoun to point to specific things, as in “Take that envelope to the post office.” In this sentence, “that” refers to a particular piece of mail.
• Demonstrative adjective: As a demonstrative adjective, also known as a demonstrative determiner, “that” can refer to the location of a place or object. For example, “This rose smells sweet.” In this sentence, “this” positions a nearby flower.
• Demonstrative conjunction: You can use “that” to connect two clauses. For example, “I didn’t know that he lived in New York.”
• Demonstrative adverb: You can place the word “that” before an adverb. For example, “I can’t run that far.”

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