"I've a 24" 2.4Ghz iMac _that's_ hard drive recently packed in."

[Laurence Horn]

At 10:07 PM -0500 2/19/11, Dan Goncharoff wrote:
>I would have thought "that's the book that
>has a torn cover" would have been a superior choice, but it didn't make your
>list.
>
That paraphrase is possible in this case, but not necessarily in
others.  I was trying to retain the original construction as much as
possible. So for example

That's the guy whose mother you just met.
That's the guy that's mother you just met.
That's the guy that you just met his mother.

What would be the "have" variant in this case--"That's the guy that
has a mother you just met"?  "That's the guy such that you just met
his mother"?   Of course the "whose" variant is always possible, but
it is elevated register ant there's a gap for the colloquial
counterpart, although sometimes local paraphrases (as in your case)
will be available.

(I made up that example, but I just googled "the guy that's" and found

This is the guy that's mother was looking for him, and put an ad in a magazine.
the guy that's mother died was that supposed to be Forest Law or Jin Kazama?
The guy that's wife just died while skiing.
He was the guy that's wife discovered his long steamy affair, whilst
he was buried deep in the earth
I thought the guy that's wife just had a baby the same morning was good.

and also:
Just a pathetic kid that's mother hates him

and similar cases, none of which sound natural to me with the "have"
paraphrase.)

LH

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