Booher's Rules of Business Grammar - Dianna Booher 2009

Going to bat for thats
Reminders about redundancies

DO YOU NEED THE THAT?

Evidently some people go through life plopping thats into passages wherever possible to introduce a clause (group of words with a subject and verb):

In the last three decades, we have discovered the extraordinary power of the brain that is incomprehensible to most of us. By staying focused through reinforcement in our desire to achieve this prize that has become the object of our promise, we enlist our mind to help us accomplish our objective. Remember earlier that we discussed that the primary function of the subconscious mind is self-preservation. This desire to protect us sometimes puts the subconscious mind in the role of an overprotective mother attempting to keep us from engaging in an activity that might cause us harm, pain, or embarrassment.

Other people go through life extracting thats from the same passages whenever possible:

In the last three decades, we have discovered the extraordinary power of the brain incomprehensible to most of us. By staying focused through reinforcement in our desire to achieve this prize that has become the object of our promise, we enlist our mind to help us accomplish our objective. Earlier we discussed that the primary function of the subconscious mind is self-preservation. This desire to protect us sometimes puts the subconscious mind in the role of an overprotective mother attempting to keep us from engaging in a harmful, painful, or embarrassing activity.

Usually this process of adding and deleting thats takes place on the same document between two colleagues who irritate each other. Notice that in the rewrite, only two of the five thats remain necessary for clarity. The last sentence also involves a slight rewording.

So when do you need a that? Let clarity be your guide:

Incorrect:

The consultant warned us Thursday sales leads might drop. (Did the consultant warn them on Thursday? Or was the consultant’s warning about Thursday sales leads?)

Correct:

The consultant warned us that Thursday sales leads might drop.

The consultant warned us Thursday that sales leads might drop.

Conclusion: You have choices about that. If clarity isn’t an issue, that clutters. If you need that for clarity, by all means, use it.

(Note: For a discussion on that versus which, see Chapter 28, “Which Hunts,” and for punctuation with that and which, see Chapter 48, “Comma Clauses and Pauses.”)

Memory tip

Dr. Seuss joined clauses with that when necessary to see how far his readers could go with the beat and one breath.

But Dr. Seuss made megamillions off his rhymes and his funny hats—not necessarily his thats.