An End to Pedantry: THAT vs. WHICH

I've used this blog on a number of occasions to debunk rules that are widely believed to represent 'proper' educated usage but which have very little basis in reality. I have for instance argued that data is not in fact a plural, that tomatoes aren't really fruit outside of botanical circles, and that there is no good reason to use an rather than a before words beginning with h. I'm far from alone in writing about these imaginary rules but I occasionally feel I can provide a slightly different perspective on them. After encountering some of my posts on these issues, one of my readers asked me to elaborate on what I meant by this:

The only standard by which we can judge the use of a word to be correct or not is whether it conforms to the conventions used by members of the speech community in the particular context in which it is being used. [On falling apples and whether tomatoes really are fruit, Oct 16, 2013]

In particular, this reader was interested in what I thought about the alleged rule for when to use that and which, and whether I think it actually matters whether we follow such rules if our meaning is likely to be understood in any case. What follows is a slightly edited version of the response I gave this reader by email, which I hope clarifies my position.

Pronunciation: WORK vs. WALK

The spelling of the words work and walk is quite unhelpful for understanding how to pronounce them, so it might be easier if you imagine them being spelled werk and wawk.

The vowel sound that appears in work can be spelled many different ways, so if you know how to pronounce these other words, you can use them as a guide:

A nurse heard a birth at work.

And here is a sentence to help you with the vowel sound in walk:

I thought I saw a hawk walk.

The l in walk is silent in all common varieties of English.

In the so-called non-rhotic accents spoken in many British colonies and in most of Britain itself, the r in work is also silent. In rhotic varieties of English spoken in Canada, most of the USA, Ireland, and some parts of the UK including Scotland, Northern Ireland and the South West of England (particularly Cornwall where the locals sound a bit like pirates), speakers do pronounce the r in work.