There are three very different uses of that: Subordinating that: “I know that this is the answer.” Demonstrative pronoun that: “ That is not the answer.” Adjectival that: “ That answer is not it.” Double that occurs because the first that is the subordinating that, and the second that is a demonstrative pronoun or adjectival that. That is, if you subordinate a clause that begins ...
Actually, there's more to this than mentioned in some other answers. The word that is a subordinator; it is not a relative word like who, where, when, or which. Even in integrated relative clauses, they are not always interchangeable. When the relative construction follows a fronted preposition, only relative words will do, so relative pronoun which is available, but that isn't. We have to ...
He will understand that I was not joking. He will understand I was not joking. Which of the sentences is correct? Are there any specific rules about the use of "that" in the sentences I
"That" can introduce an explanatory dependent clause. "What" cannot. "That" indicates a specific quality of the object in question, or a subset of a larger set. "What" indicates the object in question itself, or the entire larger set. (e.g. "What was the bird you used to own that was red?") In your example, "what" is incorrect because it creates a logic problem; it establishes an equivalency ...
For the past few years, I have been hearing people say "that tracks," meaning "that makes sense." My search on Green's Dictionary of Slang yielded nothing with this clear meani...
This " that " is not a conjunction; it is a Complementizer. It introduces tensed clauses. Tensed clauses of several kinds, in fact: tensed Subject and Object complement clauses (whence the name complementizer), and restrictive relative clauses, where it may be used instead of a Wh -word. In both cases, that may be deleted if it's not needed for clarity. (there are several contexts where that ...