which or that

[tri3hary]

Hi,

I read in a book that in the sentence: That is the kind of man (that) I dislike, we can't replace the relative pronoun that with which. Why is that so? Is the antecedent kind or man?

Thank you in advance,
Tri

[philo2009]

Hi,

I read in a book that in the sentence: That is the kind of man (that) I dislike, we can't replace the relative pronoun that with which. Why is that so? Is the antecedent kind or man?

Thank you in advance,
Tri

Primarily because the clause is restrictive, 'that' is much more natural, although I would not go so far as to call 'which' here ungrammatical.

The antecedent here, if a single word had to be selected, is 'kind' rather than 'man', although, since reference is really to both in terms of the entire phrase 'kind of man', the point is somewhat moot.