Stupid grammar trick

[davedove]

Dave brain hurt.:confused:

[Nick]

Okay, here's the breakdown of the "That" sentence. I can't promise that it'll make your brain feel any better. All uses of "that" in that sentence are grammatically correct. This rises from an old argument that the word "that" has to many uses in the English language.

Call the "that"s 1, 2, 3, and 4.

1 is the complementizer
2 is the demonstrative
3 is the noun
4 is the relitavizer

The "Had" sentance is great.

[UmAnOnion]

...All uses of "that" in that sentence are grammatically correct. This rises from an old argument that the word "that" has to many uses in the English language.

It could also be argued that the person using 'that' the number of times therein could have acheived greater clarity by better, more specific word choice.
I am the product of an overly structured british educational system where you woudl be regularly called on the carpet for not being specific and clear in yoru speech. While said sentance may be grammatically correct, it is not necessarily the best way of making that statement...

[Nick]

No argument here. It is a construction that you probably never would have heard otherwise, but it's fun nonetheless.

[GlassMan]

This whole thing is bringing back flashbacks of my 8th grade English teacher who use dot make us diagram sentences until our brains hurt.

[Southern Breeze]