"There's a thing that I don't know what is" - Is this correct grammar? (lemmy.world)

submitted 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) by PlogLod@lemmy.world to c/asklemmy@lemmy.ml

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How do you say something like that?

"There's a thing for which I don't know what it is" "There's a thing where I don't know what it is" "There's a thing that I don't know what is"

or (the one which I hear people say a lot but sounds awkward:) "There's a thing that/which I don't know what it is"?

To be honest they all sound awkward to me to varying degrees

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[-] jwlgowi@lemmy.sdf.org 11 points 1 year ago

Best sounding recommendation probably depends on context and ‘the thing’:

There’s a concept I don’t understand.

There is something in the box I don’t recognize.

There is a feature of the coffee machine I haven’t figured out yet.

There’s a Greek word in the original text that I don’t know.

[-] jwlgowi@lemmy.sdf.org 4 points 1 year ago

To clarify - I think your proposed grammar is valid but the phrasing is uncommon. It’s not a phrase I would expect to hear. Though I would understand the gist of what you’re expressing.

this post was submitted on 17 Oct 2023

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