Re: "Difficult" clauses

In a message dated 5/12/2007 9:29:58 PM Central Daylight Time, hmiller@IO.COM
writes:


> > "We spent all night talking about something I don't remember what it
> > was" doesn't sound right to me.  Shouldn't there be something
> > after "something": "and," a period, a semicolon?
>
> Not a pause, but you can add an implicit "that" after "something".
>
>
Any of the three options "and", period, or semicolon would work fine, since
it's essentially two independent clauses.
Adding explicit "that" is wrong, though, because "that" would be the direct
object of "I don't remember", but there is already an explicit direct object:
"what it was".
If "that" *is* added, then "what it was" should be left out or put in its own
clause somehow.

Adding an *implicit* "that" is pointless, if not absurd.  If it's implied,
who's to say that it's been added at all?

stevo   </HTML>

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