Um dos tópicos de gramática que mais causam dúvida entre estudantes de inglês é a diferença entre os pronomes relativos "who", "that" e "which".

Se você também hesita na hora de empregar essas palavras, confira 4 regras básicas que podem facilitar  (muito) a sua vida:

1. WHICH e THAT são usados quando nos referimos a COISAS

Josh is on the team THAT won first place.

I love the watch THAT you gave me for my birthday.

She belongs to a great organization, WHICH specializes in saving endangered species.

You must have your own work area WHICH can be cut off from the rest of the house.

 

2. WHO e THAT são usados quando nos referimos a PESSOAS

Anya is the one WHO  rescued the bird.

They’re just a normal couple and their kids are everyday kids WHO play in the street.

You seem to be very judgemental of anyone THAT is older than you

They hired someone THAT could be a focal point for all these calls from the media.

Que tal praticar essas noções com um pouco de diversão? Depois do fiasco na apresentação do Melhor Filme no Oscar 2017  ("The Oscars Best Picture Fiasco") , há uma certa curiosidade sobre como será a apresentação de 2018, que irá ao ar ao vivo no dia 4 de março.

Se você gosta de cinema e está aprendendo inglês, leia os seguintes textos sobre filmes e atores abaixo, e observe as regras de WHO/THAT/WHICH sendo aplicadas.

Two of the Best Picture Nominees

CALL ME BY YOUR NAME;
Seventeen-year-old Elio Perlman lives in Northern Italy with his translator mother and professor father, WHO welcomes American doctoral student Oliver to help with his work for the summer. The cultured yet shy Elio is impressed with the confident Oliver, and their friendship blossoms into a relationship that transforms his life.

THE SHAPE OF WATER
In 1962, janitor Elisa Esposito works at a classified government laboratory THAT tests new technology to help defeat the Soviet Union during the Cold War. Isolated and lonely, the mute Elisa finds her life changing forever when she uncovers the truth about the facility's most unusual and top-secret project.

 

Two of the Best Actor in a Leading Role Nominees

DANIEL DAY-LEWIS
As Reynolds Woodcock, Daniel Day-Lewis plays a couturier*  WHO  unexpectedly finds love with a waitress WHO challenges his obsessive insistence on order and perfection.

DENZEL WASHINGTON
As Roman J. Israel, Esq.,*  Denzel Washington plays an idiosyncratic lawyer WHO  finds his idealism tested after years of making sacrifices and eschewing*  personal comforts.

Two of the Best Actress in a Leading Role Nominees

MARGOT ROBBIE
As Tonya Harding, Margot Robbie plays the figure skater WHO  first became famous for her athletic prowess*  and then infamous for her possible complicity in an attack on her rival.

MERYL STREEP
Meryl Streep portrays the publisher of The Washington Post, Kay Graham, WHO must overcome her self-doubt while deciding whether to publish the Pentagon Papers at a critical juncture*  in the paper's history.

GLOSSARY

DANIEL DAY-LEWIS
couturier: a fashion designer WHO manufactures and sells clothes THAT have been tailored to a client's specific requirements and measurements.

DENZEL WASHINGTON
Esq.,: used as a title of courtesy often by attorneys usually placed in its abbreviated form after the surname  

DENZEL WASHINGTON
To eschew: to avoid habitually especially on moral or practical grounds

MARGOT ROBBIE
prowess:  extraordinary ability

MERYL STREEP
juncture: a point of time

SOURCES:

oscar.go.com

grammarbook.com

merriam-webster.com

Rosangela Souza é fundadora e sócia-diretora da Companhia de Idiomas e da ProfCerto. Também é professora de técnicas de comunicação, gestão de pessoas e estratégia na pós-graduação da Fundação Getúlio Vargas.