Comments on: Folks versus People

By: Maeve

Maeve — Sun, 20 Sep 2009 16:53:28 +0000

Gaylon,
While “which” may be used only for nonhuman antecedents: “the house which is on the market” and never people “the man which walked through the door,” “that” may be used with either human or nonhuman antecedents. I usually use “who,” but I feel that it’s a stylistic choice. Sometimes “that” seems preferable to me.

By: Gaylon

Gaylon — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 23:03:46 +0000

Side quesiton: Shouldn’t it be “folks who” rather than “folks that”? This is one of my pet peeves – those who use “that” after personal pronouns. What’s the rule here?

By: Alexis

Alexis — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 04:34:38 +0000

Dear John Pachecus,

I found it funny that you looked up the actual definition of people to help make your point but you just used examples of how some people might use the word folk.

The ACTUAL definition of folk is- a group of kinderd people forming a nation.

But this is all besides the point, how can you read the quote above about AL QAEDA and get so wrapped up that he used the word folks and write a article about it? I bet you didnt even hear the rest of the speech.. Oh my “people”, come on!

By: July 2007 « M. J. Maddox

July 2007 « M. J. Maddox — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 22:47:12 +0000

[...] Comes to “Unique” * 28: Who Is My Neighbor? * 26: Orwell: Timeless Guidelines for Writers * 24: Folks versus People * 24: English Spelling is Not Total Chaos * 19: “Putting on Airs” or Expressing One’s [...]

By: David

David — Tue, 31 Jul 2007 13:12:02 +0000

If you want to be folksy, the plural of person used to be persons.