That

The word "that" is used in the English language for several grammatical purposes:

* to introduce a restrictive clause
* as a demonstrative pronoun
* as a complementizer.

In the Old English language "that" was spelled "þæt". It was also abbreviated as a letter Thorn, "þ", with the ascender crossed ( in places such as 2 Corinthians 13:7.

Phrases involving repeated "that"s

"That" can be used five times in a row, in a grammatically correct sentence:

He said that that 'that' that that man used was wrong. [http://www.rightwords.co.nz/that.html]

Or six times:

He said that that 'that' that that 'that' modified was wrong.

Or seven times: [ [http://www.bartleby.com/81/16383.html Brewer, E. Cobham. Dictionary of Phrase & Fable. That ] ]

Did the editor know that, that that 'that' that that 'that' followed was redundant? [ [http://www.opundo.com/sayagain.htm opundo-repetition ] ]

The same thing is possible with the German equivalent of that 'das', with the exception that 'das' is sometimes written 'dass' (or older 'daß') to make it easier to read, though it is pronounced the same way.

The pattern can be repeated indefinitely and retain its grammatical correctness:

Did you know that that 'that' that that 'that' that that 'that' that that 'that'...

Other patterns of grammatically correct multiple consecutive occurrences are also possible. For example:

That that is is that that that that is not is not.

References

* http://www.jtbullitt.com/projects/tangible-intuitions/words-fail/that

See also

*This
*English relative clauses
*"That" is also the Lao word for stupa.

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That — That, pron., a., conj., & adv. [AS. [eth][ae]t, neuter nom. & acc. sing. of the article (originally a demonstrative pronoun). The nom. masc. s[=e], and the nom. fem. se[ o] are from a different root. AS. [eth][ae]t is akin to D. dat, G. das, OHG … The Collaborative International Dictionary of English
that is — or[that is to say] I mean; that means; in other words. * /John is a New Yorker; that is, he lives in New York./ * /Susan is a good student; that is to say, she gets good grades in school./ … Dictionary of American idioms
that is — or[that is to say] I mean; that means; in other words. * /John is a New Yorker; that is, he lives in New York./ * /Susan is a good student; that is to say, she gets good grades in school./ … Dictionary of American idioms
that — I. pronoun (plural those) Etymology: Middle English, from Old English thæt, neuter demonstrative pronoun & definite article; akin to Old High German daz, neuter demonstrative pronoun & definite article, Greek to, Latin istud, neuter demonstrative … New Collegiate Dictionary
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