that vs. who (relative pronouns)

[sweetpumpkin]

My English teacher once said we cannot put 'who' instead of 'that' in the phrase, 'the first man that proposes'. I don't know why. I looked up my grammar books, but no book explained why. So, would you tell me why 'who' cannot be used in the phrase?

Thanks in advance.

[Alan]

Hi,

The convention is that after a superlative or equivalent (best/easiest for example) the relative should be 'that'. This refers to a qualified noun suggesting uniqueness. You might like to look at some material I've written for the site on relative pronouns:

ESL Lesson: Relative Pronoun

Alan
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English as a Second Language
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