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On another stackexchange site, I used the following phrasing:

I want to do X. It seems I can only do so when Y.

Someone edited the second sentence:

It seems that I can only do so when Y.

This made me realise that the edited form is perhaps more common -- but is my original phrasing grammatically incorrect? What role does "that" play in the second variation?

F.E.
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starwed
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  • This has less to do with the phrase it seems than with the omission of that in general. Look up "omission of that" in Google Search. e.g., http://books.google.co.in/books?id=8v_SS6_9S34C&pg=PA321&lpg=PA321&dq=%22omission+of+that%22+grammar&source=bl&ots=bHvaXKQTAg&sig=G6iySDcG1_HqJ0TZ95Q1DE7V_zw&hl=en&sa=X&ei=DNSUUZrkPIiIrQeUm4HwDw&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q=%22omission%20of%20that%22%20grammar&f=false -- http://www.englishforums.com/English/OmissionSubordinateConjunction/bhzhh/post.htm – Kris May 16 '13 at 12:43
  • Related: http://english.stackexchange.com/q/8145/14666 – Kris May 16 '13 at 12:45
  • Ok, I now understand my real question better. But neither the other answer nor any of my google results explain the rules in terms I can understand. :( – starwed May 16 '13 at 12:50
  • @starwed But perhaps you can rephrase the question now that you understand the issue better? – TrevorD May 16 '13 at 12:53
  • Also @TrevorD This question is better asked on ELL it seems. – Kris May 16 '13 at 12:54
  • @Kris OK. I haven't been here long enough to grasp what's acceptable on this board and what isn't, so I'm currently leaving that for others to comment on even if I have wondered about it. – TrevorD May 16 '13 at 13:00
  • @TrevorD The recently launched English Language Learners Q&A is a sister site. With ELU dealing with the more advanced grammar and usage questions, simpler questions are now referred to ell.stackexchange.com – Kris May 16 '13 at 13:03
  • @Kris Yes, thanks. I knew of it, and have responded on it. As a newbie, I'm just hesitating on making judgments on which questions should be on which boards. Thanks for the guidance. – TrevorD May 16 '13 at 13:10
  • @Kris ELL is explicitly for "speakers of other languages learning English". I'm a native speaker. When I said I didn't understand the terms used, I meant jargon like "appositive clause". – starwed May 16 '13 at 13:13
  • @starwed If there were a bit more info in your profile, answerers might know whether they're responding to a native speaker or learner. As regards the question, I'm sorry I don't have an answer of whether one is grammatically wrong. Personally, I find the second version slightly easier to read - and, if writing it, I would use the latter (with that): I can't say whether I would prefer one or the other when hearing it. But I can't give more than a subjective view I'm afraid. – TrevorD May 16 '13 at 13:54
  • BTW, seem is not the only predicate that takes a that-complement, though it does have extremely strange syntax. The it part of "it seems" is a dummy created by extraposition, for instance. Seem requires extraposition with a that-complement, and A-Raising with an infinitive complement. These are normally optional rules, but seem is an odd verb, as I say. – John Lawler May 16 '13 at 14:53
  • “This is another example of that-complementizer. It's optional, and is often deleted; but since deleting stuff loses information, putting it back in often clarifies matters.” — John Lawler Aug 6 '13 at 14:09 – tchrist Jan 18 '14 at 20:16

1 Answers1

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One use of the word that is as a complementizer, a part of speech that is a type of subordinating conjunction in traditional grammars. Complementizers introduce complement clauses, which are sentential clauses that may or may not stand alone and are the argument of the main verb:

  • I believe that she is a good person.
  • It seems that he can perform miracles.

In other words, the clause she is a good person (which stands alone as a valid sentence), is the argument of the verb believe. The argument of this use of believe is a complement clause, and so may optionally be introduced by the complementizer that.

When that is used as a complementizer, it is optional. Omitting or including the that complementizer is a stylistic decision. Here is a good article that can help elucidate the factors that go into the decision (also available as a podcast at the same link).

John Lawler
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Ben Reich
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