Katherine Pickett, Editor

Someone must have told my client to eliminate "that" from her manuscript because she has diligently removed all instances.

It's true that "that" is often overused, but it does have a place in our language.

#Writers: Any rule that says to "never" use a certain word or part of speech will lead you down the wrong path.

May 26 at 2:50pmWeb
Show threadBob ThomsonMay 27
@KPED only through my attempts to learn French have I noticed quite how often (that) 'that' is dropped in my oral and written communication.
Show threadblackcoatMay 27
@KPED I will say, every single time that I use "that that" in a sentence, I want to write a bug report against english
Show threadIsraelMay 29
@blackcoat For some reason, "gotten" hits me in the same way — doesn't feel right.
Show threadJanne MorenMay 28
@KPED
Your statement is good advice. It's easy to forget how the rules of language are in service of clear communication, not the other way around. Anybody who says ""that" is forbidden" should be forced to write a page or two without it. They'll soon find out how difficult such a thing is without sounding stilted and unnatural.
Show threadArtemysiaMay 28
@KPED I see this a lot in student writing. Drives me nuts. Without the relative pronoun 'that', there's more mental effort to shift into the clause it ought to be pointing at.
Show threadSarcastiCanadianMay 28

@KPED

Editor: remove that that from the paragraph.
Me: If that "that" that "that that" refers to is the first instance of "that", then I disagree. Stet.

Show threadjakeMay 29
@KPED on the fiction side I hear this a lot. And yeah too many “that”s can be an issue. But it doesn’t need to be higher on the ban list than any thing else.