That That That

Dear Sir:

You're decent with the English language, right; how do you feel about the word "that"? I feel it is extremely overused. For example, I could have said "I feel that it is very overused", or even "I could have said that I feel that that is overused." I try to eliminate that word wherever possible.

Here's another example: I'm helping a friend write the sentence "I told him [that] I am tired." I removed the bracketed word, but other "editors" have reinserted it. Can you back me up that the sentence was fine how it was?

Maybe I underuse "that." It's hard to google the proper usage of "that" because it's too common of a word, and I only get results for "that vs which."

-- Marlon Brando Appleton, III

Dear MBA3:

Could you say "doctor" instead of "sir"? It's just a thing. I worked so hard to get that title. I'd appreciate it.

As for the "t-word," it surely is overused. A simple writing guide: if a sentence works without a word, don't use it. Shakespeare famously wrote "brevity is the soul of all the world's stages" in his play Henry XXII. If a word is not embellishing a setence but merely taking up space, remove it! (Eg, "due to the fact" reduces to "due to," and "what I do do is" reduces to "doo doo.")

You'll find when you put this rule into practice the "t-word" is never necessary. All sentences work quite well without it! This may seem incorrect, but it's just because we're so used to using the "t-word" in everyday speech, we feel it's necessary to use in writing.

An example of poor writing:

"I think that man over there is sad now that he no longer has that dog that made him so happy."

An example of good writing:

"I think man over there is sad now he no longer has dog made him so happy."

See the improvement? To quote Shakespeare again, "All glistens in not gold."

If you don't believe me and feel you must use "that," here's a quick lesson on "that vs witch." "That" is masculine and "witch" is feminine, as in "Dr. Fello, that frumpus," and "Dear Flabby, the witch!"

-- Dr. N