Othanical

A lowly undergraduate climbing toward the light.

Sunday, July 30, 2006

Relative pronoun happy

I have been observing Spanish's effect on me.

I can read advertisements and signs written in Spanish and carry on conversations with a Spanish speaker. Lately it's been wreaking havoc with my written English.

I've become a bit that-happy.

I mean that as in "that girl," "perhaps that," stuff like that.

The Spanish equivalent of the word "that" is the word "que". Not "qué" (with the accent) mind you, that's "what".

"That" is a relative pronoun, as is "que".

As you, my readers, English speakers (most of you), may consciously or unconsciously know, you can leave "that" out of a lot of sentences.

Just look at these two sentences, logic problems aside:

I hope GWB becomes emperor.
I hope that GWB becomes emperor.

If you didn't spit your coffee onto your keyboard and monitor, both sentences read pretty much the same to you, right? Apparently the omission of "that" is celebrated in some circles, and my written works come back with red ink all over the thats.

Espero que GWB se llega a ser emperador.
Espero GWB se llega a ser emperador.

The second sentence is wrong, wrong, wrong according to about.com and the Spanish Academy people who make all rules about Spanish and enforce them with scythes. I haven't decided if this that-dropping ability that English has is cool or not. Are we just lazy motherfuckers who can be bothered to include a one syllable word in our language? Or are we so smart that we want to avoid being Captain Obvii (or Obviouses if you prefer).

I don't know.

If you weren't an English major that's probably the most extensive grammar lesson you've had since 7th grade. I do apologize. I just had to express the extent of my that-troubles. I'll end this by saying I love apostrophes.

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