Marah wrote:linguoboy wrote:To take one example: that vs which in relative clauses. I'd never heard of this "rule" until my first year of college, when one of my professors mentioned it to me and suggested I observe it. I took it for what it was: a stylistic guideline. Since then, however, I've met people who learned it as inviolable and look upon any deviation as wronger than wrong
You mean that both "The time machine, which looked like a telephone booth, concerned Bill and Ted." and
"The time machine that looked like a telephone booth concerned Bill and Ted."
meant the same thing to you before hearing about the rule?
No, because in one case the relative clause is set off by commas and in the other it isn't.
Do "Let's eat, Grandma!" and "Let's eat Grandma!" mean the same thing to you?