1

Which of the following sentences uses correct English grammar?

  1. Don't make me play games I don't want to play.
  2. Don't make me play games that I don't want to play.
herisson
  • 81,803
Inquiring
  • 11
  • They're both correct. – A.Ellett May 25 '15 at 15:14
  • 1
    Both, as @A.Ellett says. In a relative clause, the relative pronoun (who or which) or complementiser (that) is optional as long as the noun phrase (here, 'games') is not the subject of the relatlve clause. Incidentally, questions at this level may be better suited to the English Language Learners site. – Colin Fine May 25 '15 at 15:34
  • You could easily change the meaning of the first sentence by adding a semicolon: "Don't make me play games; I don't want to play." But otherwise, without added punctuation, they both say and mean the same thing. – A.Ellett May 25 '15 at 16:13

1 Answers1

-1

Don't make me play games I don't want to play.
Don't make me play games that I don't want to play.

that or which is optional here.

However, I would like to make a small correction as follows:

Don't make me play the games (that) I don't want to play. - the is required. The reason? Here, you're only referring to the games that you don't want to play.

On the other hand, if you simply said, "Don't make me play games", it would mean:

Don't make me play (any) games. The use of any is option.

Sankarane
  • 2,405
  • 1
  • 12
  • 19
  • I don't agree with your correction: "Don't make me play games I don't want to play" is grammatical, and for me more idiomatic than with "the". To me "the" implies that the speaker and the hearer both know just which games are being talked about, while omitting "the" does not imply that. – Colin Fine May 25 '15 at 15:37
  • Thanks for the responses. I suppose I was thinking that the sentence 'Don't make me play games I want to' might be incorrect as when spoken it could be misinterpreted as 'Don't make me play games, I don't want to.' But by adding 'that' into the sentence it clarifies the meaning more. Is this true? – Inquiring May 25 '15 at 15:45
  • Sorry I meant it might be misinterpreted as 'Don't make me play games, I don't want to play', meaning 'I just don't want to play right now' rather than 'don't ask me to play games that I'm not interested in playing'. Any thoughts on this? – Inquiring May 25 '15 at 15:51
  • @Colin Fine. Right, thanks. But in this particular context, I believe both know which ones are being discussed here. The clause, "... that I don't want to play" implies just that.

    This is why I suggested the correction.

     – Sankarane May 25 '15 at 16:15
  • I don't find any reference to 'time' in your sentence, as it is. The use of "the" or its omission would make a difference as explained by my examples. – Sankarane May 25 '15 at 16:24
  • @Inquiring: in writing, you might worry about that ambiguity. In speech - that's not how most people speak. We say what we mean, and if it turns out to be ambiguous, (which we discover by our interlocutors' reactions) we fix it afterwards. In any context I can think of, the prosody will distinguish "Don't make me play games I don't want to play" (with neither a fall on 'games' nor a pause after it) from "Don't make my play games. I don't want to play" (with both). – Colin Fine May 25 '15 at 16:30
  • @Sankarane: perhaps the form with 'the' is more natural for you. It isn't for me. I could say it, but I would be expressing some extra meaning by doing so - perhaps greater distress at the prospect at being made to play one of those games. – Colin Fine May 25 '15 at 16:34
  • Thanks for your response. It is a written sentence though. So, is grammatically incorrect? – Inquiring May 25 '15 at 16:36
  • The difference is that the original sentence was written as; 'Don't make me to play games I don't want to play?' When the sentence I actually want clarification on is; 'Can people stop asking me to play games I don't want to.' The questions are; should there be a 'that' before 'I don't want to', and should the word 'play' be at the end? – Inquiring May 25 '15 at 16:43
  • Sorry for not being very clear (at all). – Inquiring May 25 '15 at 16:46
  • @Inquiring: Yes, it might make sense in a spoken sentence and taking into consideration the tone of your voice, as per the above comment. So, correct!

    What I meant was that, in your sentence there was no expression such as "now" or "right now" to imply that.

     – Sankarane May 25 '15 at 16:50
  • @Colin Fine: I appreciate your comment! Given the scope of the language, it's very useful to know/learn. – Sankarane May 25 '15 at 16:51
  • @Inquiring. Both are grammatical, and the sentence that you now say you want clarification on is also grammatical both with and without the 'that'. With that longer, more complicated sentence, I judge that there is a greater possibility of misreading it as two sentences (it only takes the presence or absence of a full stop, since 'I' is capitalised anyway), so adding 'that' to the written version will reduce that risk, but that is not a question of grammaticality. Nor is it necessary to recapitulate the verb 'play': again both possibilities are grammatical. – Colin Fine May 25 '15 at 20:30