Quotative [to be] + "that"

[Wilson Gray]

Actually, I'm with you all the way. It just struck me as really,
really, really weird that replacing "that" with "like" makes that
sentence feel so much better. As one of my old profs used to say,
"How can this *be*?!"

-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:      Re: Quotative [to be] + "that"
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>
>With quotative "like", the sentence would feel better to me as "...
>they're all
>like ..." rather than "... they all are like ..."
>
>Maybe it's just me,
>--Tom Kysilko
>
>Quoting Wilson Gray <wilson.gray at RCN.COM>:
>
>>  Try replacing that "that" with "like" and see how the sentence feels.
>>  Just a suggestion.
>>
>>  -Wilson Gray
>>
>>  >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
>>
>>