THAT…A PET PEEVE

• By Michael Smart
• June 1, 2015
• 3 Comments

In a recent post, “Kill these words! 10 easy rules to enliven your writing,” I included the word ‘that’ as a weak word to be eliminated from sentences. ‘That’, used as a relative pronoun or conjunction in a sentence, is a particular pet peeve of mine, eliciting a fingernails-on-chalkboard type response whenever I encounter it. Yet its egregious usage seems to be multiplying, in novels, blog posts, even news articles, used by novice and experienced writers alike. When did ‘that’ attain such ubiquitous usage? I wonder. Or had it always been there and I didn’t notice? If so, what in me changed as a writer and reader to produce such an instant toxic reaction to ‘that’?

While ‘that’ in most instances is used in grammatically correct fashion, I’m unable to suppress the urge to close my eyes and flee the page when I read it in a sentence. Especially jarring is its use in conjunction with a masculine or feminine noun or pronoun, as in “the man that…” rather than “the man who…” Or “my friend that asked me…”, instead of “my friend who asked me…” I reflexively discount any sentence containing “the fact that…” as possessing an actual fact. It may indeed be a fact, but my brain dismisses it upon seeing (that) word. As an aside, I also tend to assume the phrase “the fact of the matter is that…” as presaging a lie. Politicians appear particularly enamored with (that) phrase.

Consider these examples where ‘that’ is used correctly:

As a Determiner: “Give me that hammer.”
Reconstructed as: “Give me the rusty yellow hammer.”
 
 
As a Demonstrative Pronoun: “Who gave you that?”
Reconstructed as: “Who gave you the black eye.”
 
 
As a Conjunction: “I didn’t know that she was married.”
Reconstructed as: “I didn’t know she was married.”
 
 
As a Relative Pronoun: “It’s a song that my mother taught me.”
Reconstructed as: “It’s a song my mother taught me.” In this sentence I’d also find a stronger emotive construction for the pronoun “it”, perhaps naming the specific song.
 
As an Adverb: “Three years? I can’t wait that long.”
Reconstructed for stronger dramatic impact as: “You kidding me! Three years! I can’t wait three years.” Or any other construction to suit the scene and the character’s frame of mind.

My research into ‘that’ usage in style and grammar, produced authoritative (and not so authoritative) opinions spanning a confusing gamut between those who consider grammatical rules regarding ‘that’, and others (the consensus I gathered), who think the speaker or writer has a choice whether to use or omit ‘that’. Needless to say I prefer omission, restructuring the sentence when necessary to obliterate (‘that’) from my writing. In every instance the sentence is stronger after deleting (‘that’) word.

I enjoy reading many writing styles, so long as it attracts and captures my attention, and entails more than words strung together in sentences adhering to ‘proper’ or ‘correct’ grammatical rules. My favorite authors forgo such formulas in order to add personal artistry and flavor to their writing. For me, words and sentences must invoke an emotional dimension, like the subtle use of color by a painter, the nuanced shape created by a sculptor, the evocative movement of a dancer.

Words are a writer’s raw materials. The words we choose and how we use them our art. For me ‘that’ is a loathsome distraction on the page, a marring of the artwork, a word best relegated to the unusable trash pile.

What do you think of (that)? And which words raise your hackles?

 
 
 
 

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