Quotative [to be] + "that"

[Wilson Gray]

Try replacing that "that" with "like" and see how the sentence feels.
Just a suggestion.

-Wilson Gray

>---------------------- Information from the mail header
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>Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>Poster:       Tom Kysilko <pds at VISI.COM>
>Subject:      Quotative [to be] + "that"
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>The following was posted to another listserve by a recent college
>grad, female,
>with a name that suggests that she may have origins in South Africa.  This may
>be a case of an omitted word between "are" and "that" - such as "agreed" - but
>maybe not.
>
>>>>>  [O]f the doctors who have access to Schiavo [sic] and her full medical
>history and are not affiliated with either side (ie court appointed), they all
>are that she is in a persistent vegetative state, severely brain damaged (her
>cerebral cortex is filled with spinal fluid), and has no hope of
>recovery. <<<<
>
>--Tom Kysilko