Talk:That/Archive 1

2007-02-9 Automated pywikipediabot message
--CopyToWiktionaryBot 10:58, 9 February 2007 (UTC)

He said that that can be used as a pronoun.

Starting a sentence with 'that'
A friend told me that it's grammatically incorrect to start a sentence with the word 'that'. Is this true? PolarisSLBM 16:53, 26 August 2007 (UTC)
 * That such sentences are acceptable is beyond question. Is this ok? 67.130.129.135 17:57, 8 November 2007 (UTC)

That looks good to me, as long as the pronoun has a clear reference in context. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 70.174.113.172 (talk) 22:34, 29 November 2007 (UTC)


 * Ok. That that 'that' is accetable appears to be the consensus.67.130.129.135 (talk) 22:26, 11 January 2008 (UTC)

Unrelated reference

 * moved comment to bottom of page and added heading Phaunt (talk) 15:35, 4 January 2008 (UTC)

The fourth reference link, about the pattern being infinitely repeatable, goes to a page of links rather than an article. -71.28.192.37 (talk) 05:44, 2 January 2008 (UTC)
 * I removed the reference and added a fact tag. Phaunt (talk) 15:35, 4 January 2008 (UTC)

'Indefinitely' is probably a better word than 'infinitely'. Formal grammars generally stipulate that a well formed sentence must be finite. 67.130.129.135 (talk) 20:36, 10 January 2008 (UTC)

Repeated "that"s
This section is fun but does it really fit in an encyclopedia? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 192.38.66.73 (talk) 14:58, 28 August 2008 (UTC)
 * It is certainly notable, but could perhaps be trimmed as giving undue weight to a minor point of interest. ~ Ningauble (talk) 13:30, 7 September 2008 (UTC)
 * I see that that section was removed. ~ Ningauble (talk) 18:44, 26 February 2009 (UTC)

Merge with Ꝥ?
I moved the redirect for ꝥ to Ꝥ, as there is an article for it now. However, all of the information in this article is either about Ꝥ, and so belongs in the main article, or is about the word's function, and so belongs in the Wiktionary article. So could this article be merged with Ꝥ? LokiClock (talk) 21:28, 31 August 2009 (UTC) On second thought, most of the information really wouldn't be relevant to ꝥ... LokiClock (talk) 23:00, 9 September 2009 (UTC)

If you don't see this word or if you on a similar Wikipedia website called "Uncyclopedia" which contains with all every 'that' they used in a sentence or information about this article the word 'that' about 100% guaranteed, thanks for this caution TheArticleExperience (talk) 13:41, 27 October 2017 (UTC)

Ampliarlo, por favor
Hello, I am an english student, and this article is to small. "That" is very important in english, please could some people develop this article???? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 85.251.106.11 (talk) 19:43, 19 January 2012 (UTC)
 * Wikipedia is not a dictionary. A link is provided to the Wiktionary entry on "that". Please follow the link for more information on the word; you may expand the Wiktionary article on it or request that someone else does so. Elizium23 (talk) 20:21, 19 January 2012 (UTC)

Italic title
Given that WP:ITALICTITLE says to italicize the title if italics would be used in running text, and WP:WORDSASWORDS says that words as words are italicized in running text, should this title (which is a "word as word") not be italicized? Victor Yus (talk) 14:59, 5 September 2012 (UTC)
 * I don't think so. The word "that" is just a word. The running text means that if you are referring to a novel or a film, you would normally italicize the names in running text. Therefore, the title name should be italicized. I thnk you're misinterpreting WORDSASWORDS to be connected to the principle stated in ITALICTITLE. By your interpretation, almost all words would have italic titles.--Bbb23 (talk) 21:37, 5 September 2012 (UTC)
 * Only if the article is about the word itself, as it is in this case. (Whether it's appropriate to have an article about this word in Wikipedia is another matter.) The articles Cat and Dog and millions of others would not have italic titles, since they are not primarily about the words cat and dog, but about the things that those words denote. In running text you would not italicize "cat" and "dog" if you are using them to refer to cats and dogs, nor would you normally italicize "that" if you're using it in a sentence with one of its normal meanings; but you would italicize it (in Wikipedia's style) if you were using it to refer to the word that (as I did just then). Victor Yus (talk) 08:19, 6 September 2012 (UTC)
 * WORDSASWORDS doesn't say anything about the title of the article, and the title of the article isn't "running text" anyway. It is a guideline, BTW, that I'd never seen before and have unwilfully ignored for many years now: I am in the habit of using quotation marks to write about words as words, and italics for foreign words. But don't tell anyone, certainly not Mandarax. Drmies (talk) 17:58, 6 September 2012 (UTC)

Poor example
"...to introduce a restrictive relative clause ("The test that she took was hard.") In this role that may be analyzed either as a relative pronoun or as a conjunction as in the first case...."

Could someone come up with a better example for this type of use? "The test that she took was hard," is confusing as the sentence should properly read: "The test she took was hard." No "that" is needed nor should it be used. Risssa (talk) 03:15, 14 October 2013 (UTC)


 * Well, I have seen "that" used in this way, but of course also often omitted. I was not aware of a BE/AE distinction here, but it seems plausible. I have a gripe with another example though... 130.226.239.133 (talk) 13:07, 31 May 2016 (UTC)


 * Also, I have an example that is hard to paraphrase without a relative pronoun "that" or "which", but "that" is arguably more natural here: "I like doors that open to the outside." Yes, "I hate dogs that are messy" could be contracted to "I hate messy dogs", but that doesn't work anymore when the relative clause isn't simply attaching a predicate to the object (its subject). 130.226.239.133 (talk) 13:34, 31 May 2016 (UTC)

Poorer example
"I hate that dogs are messy" is not an example of "that" being used as a relative pronoun, but as a subordinating conjunction, as "dogs are messy" is a clause that is the object of the whole clause ("I hate..."), instead of forming a clause with the object of the whole clause, as "are messy" does with "dogs" in "I hate dogs that are messy" and "was hard" does with "the test" in "The test that she took was hard". 130.226.239.133 (talk) 13:26, 31 May 2016 (UTC)

Usage in American English
The first two bullet points indicate restrictions on the way 'that' is used in American English:


 * ("He asked that she go.") ("That" is not used this way in American and Canadian English.)
 * (In American and Canadian English, "that" is only used in this way if the verb could affect the proceeding noun, i.e., one would say "The test she took was hard," but would still say "I hate that dogs are messy" to avoid being misheard as saying "I hate dogs.")

According to whom?? That simply is not true. I can't really speak for Canadian English, but in America 'that' is used in both those forms all the time. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 65.175.134.111 (talk) 15:34, 20 June 2016 (UTC)


 * According to an IP that added it a a few years ago (adding it to the article in two places), but not according to another IP editor, who tagged one of these two sentences as needing a citation in January 2017. The tagged sentence was removed in February 2017 by User:CopperWhopper67 for being unsourced.
 * As a native speaker of American English, I believe this material is incorrect and have removed it. This is an official by-the-books WP:CHALLENGE and the claim should not be re-introduced until someone can produce a reliable, non-WP:CIRCULAR source that says this is a signficant point.  WhatamIdoing (talk) 20:10, 2 January 2020 (UTC)

In Wikipedia How to need is 'that'?
Is this article all that? Please give a Link with all every 'that' for making article? TheArticleExperience (talk) 13:39, 27 October 2017 (UTC)

Please give a link please?
I am a new Wikipedian, and don't know how it is. please give a Link all every "That" to the article. When I try to do that — Preceding unsigned comment added by EIBaluyot2003 (talk • contribs) 00:17, 30 November 2017 (UTC)

I am a new Wikipedian
I'm new to Wiki and dont know how to do this - please link all every "that" to the article. when I tried That, the text came up as highlight will bold instead of a link. — Preceding unsigned comment added by EIBaluyot2003 (talk • contribs) 01:28, 6 December 2017 (UTC)
 * These appear in bold because they're self links. Why would you want to link an article back to itself? – Uanfala (talk) 01:31, 6 December 2017 (UTC)

Comment about This, These, That, Those.
Example for apples. When it using "this" you have just one apple in front of somebody that is being to unknowing what is an actual apple by signal, then you ensure it saying what is an apple (and so on for These). When it using "that" you have one apple between some things (whether or not they are apples) by signal, then you ensure it saying which one is an apple (and so on for Those). I think, this/these vs that/those take the different way to use when being needs for distinguise or not distinguise from other things but not when speaker is closer or far to the apple/apples. ¿Somebody talk something about it? --109.167.127.122 (talk) 03:05, 5 September 2018 (UTC)


 * You can use this/these and that/those to indicate distance. You would not say "this apple" to talk about the one that is very much farther away.  "This apple" is the closer apple. WhatamIdoing (talk) 04:04, 3 July 2020 (UTC)

Lost
The article previously said something like this:

The word that is used in the formation of the restrictive relative clause, especially one identification. These words are used to modify an adjective, a noun, and a pronoun, to specify information about a subject or object.

cited to https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/that

I don't think this is needed, but if someone disagrees, please feel free to restore it. WhatamIdoing (talk) 04:00, 3 July 2020 (UTC)