English grammar question

[Astro Forever]

No, I'm not thinking of anybody in particular to answer this question... But whoever has the answer is welcome!

My question is regarding the word "that" as a conjuction. How do you say something like this:

"I know that I should...." or "I know I should..."?

Because of French, I'm always tempted to use the former, but I seem to recall having seen the latter as well, so I'm totally lost. Is the first one formal and the second one informal, or am I totally lost here? What are the rules I should know about this conjunction? I've had this question in mind for months, but now I have enough of wondering in almost every message I post!

[fafner]

For what I know, the use of "that" in this case is optional. It seems quite similar to the contractions such as "is not" and "isn't".
But I guess the one you are not thinking about in particular will answer with more precisions

[Astro Forever]

Originally posted by fafner@Oct 31 2005, 05:53 PM
For what I know, the use of "that" in this case is optional. It seems quite similar to the contractions such as "is not" and "isn't".
But I guess the one you are not thinking about in particular will answer with more precisions

Thanks!

[Danny]

What an interesting question! I would not mind knowing the answer myself! English is the only language (that) I speak, I always came in the top 5% when studying english @ school, and yet I think (that) this is possibly the first time (that) I have ever heard the word "conjuction" used in this manner. It is a term bound into proper english use?

Mate, if you understand that, you know more about english than I do. I just learned something about the only language (that) I speak from someone who uses it as a second language!

[Astro Forever]

Well, I have learned about coordinating and subordinating conjunctions at school, but only in French. I don't think (that) I've ever learned anything about them in English because the last time I had a class, I hadn't reached that level yet. So it just means (that) French and English have a lot in common, after all! A lot of what I know of French is useful in English. Sometimes I'll spot mistakes from native English speakers, and those are mistakes I wouldn't make because I understand the rule behind it from my knoweldge of French. But of course, on the other hand, I'm also making different mistakes, and I suppose (that) those are often the kind of mistakes that native English speakers would never make!

I found this link, among others, about conjunctions. So "that" is a subordinating conjunction, just as its French equivalent "que" is, but in French it's impossible to omit this word, which is why I'm so confused. I've read a few links I found through Google, but I couldn't find any answer to my question yet. Fafner's answer seems plausible, but then it still leaves me wondering is one is formal and the other isn't.

You don't have any idea on this, jeffbert?

[fafner]

Originally posted by Danny@Nov 1 2005, 06:51 AM
Mate, if you understand that, you know more about english than I do. I just learned something about the only language (that) I speak from someone who uses it as a second language!

It doesn't surprise me: I have learnt things about French (my native language) from my Spanish professor (a Spanish native). When you learn a language as native, you learn it in an intuitive way, while when you learn it as a second language, you learn it on a more "scientific" base.
During my Spanish courses, everyone was worried about something called diphthongs, which do appear in some verbs conjugations, apparently at random places. Our professor pointed that French had similar diphthongs, often in the same verbs, but always at the exact same places :wacko: So no excuse for native French speakers for not knowing where to put them

[jeffbert]

I could not find any objections from MS Word for either version. 'That' is implied in the case where it is absent. I remember a cartoon that was about various acadamic subects (that was aired Saturday monings in an attempt to make parents feel better about all the cartoons kids were watching), but cannot recall anything about conjunctions.

[Astro Forever]

Originally posted by jeffbert@Nov 1 2005, 04:22 PM
I could not find any objections from MS Word for either version. 'That' is implied in the case where it is absent. I remember a cartoon that was about various acadamic subects (that was aired Saturday monings in an attempt to make parents feel better about all the cartoons kids were watching), but cannot recall anything about conjunctions.

MS Word? You have one that corrects grammatical mistake? Wow! Mine only checks spelling! That's not fair! <_<

Well, thanks everyone, I guess now I'll finally be able to write a sentence including this word without thinking I might be making a mistake!

[jeffbert]

Check your tools menu.

[Astro Forever]

Originally posted by jeffbert@Nov 1 2005, 06:50 PM
Check your tools menu.

:wacko: I didn't know! Thanks!