"There's a thing that I don't know what is" - Is this correct grammar? (lemmy.world)

submitted 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago) by PlogLod@lemmy.world to c/asklemmy@lemmy.ml

29 comments fedilink hide all child comments

How do you say something like that?

"There's a thing for which I don't know what it is" "There's a thing where I don't know what it is" "There's a thing that I don't know what is"

or (the one which I hear people say a lot but sounds awkward:) "There's a thing that/which I don't know what it is"?

To be honest they all sound awkward to me to varying degrees

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments

[-] jwlgowi@lemmy.sdf.org 11 points 11 months ago

Best sounding recommendation probably depends on context and ‘the thing’:

There’s a concept I don’t understand.

There is something in the box I don’t recognize.

There is a feature of the coffee machine I haven’t figured out yet.

There’s a Greek word in the original text that I don’t know.

[-] jwlgowi@lemmy.sdf.org 4 points 11 months ago

To clarify - I think your proposed grammar is valid but the phrasing is uncommon. It’s not a phrase I would expect to hear. Though I would understand the gist of what you’re expressing.

this post was submitted on 17 Oct 2023

41 points (93.6% liked)

Asklemmy

43394 readers

1318 users here now

A loosely moderated place to ask open-ended questions

Search asklemmy 🔍

If your post meets the following criteria, it's welcome here!

Open-ended question
Not offensive: at this point, we do not have the bandwidth to moderate overtly political discussions. Assume best intent and be excellent to each other.
Not regarding using or support for Lemmy: context, see the list of support communities and tools for finding communities below
Not ad nauseam inducing: please make sure it is a question that would be new to most members
An actual topic of discussion

Looking for support?

Looking for a community?

Lemmyverse: community search
sub.rehab: maps old subreddits to fediverse options, marks official as such
!lemmy411@lemmy.ca: a community for finding communities

~Icon~ ~by~ ~@Double_A@discuss.tchncs.de~

founded 5 years ago

MODERATORS