•April 21, 2021•
By Jim Baumann
NP Guest Writer

There you have me repeating myself again.
Readers Mike and Gayle Politowicz feel (that) I am a serial abuser of “that.”
That is to say the word “that,” not this or that.
“Please help explain the word ‘that,’ which has us perplexed,” they wrote. “It is an overused word and if removed, most of the time, it would not change the intent of the sentence.”
They went on to explain (that) in a recent column — about “because” — I used “that” 17 times, and in eight of those cases it could have been eliminated without affecting the meaning of the sentence.
“The rest of the article could have used alternate words such as ‘which,’ ‘it,’ ‘the,’ or ‘this,’ for that matter,” the Politowiczes wrote. “If the word ‘because’ is disappearing, let’s do away with the redundant use of ‘that’ and we can all save some keystrokes.”
I should note Mike and Gayle’s criticism came wrapped in a compliment. I’m sure they appreciate I mentioned so and I eliminated three “thats” I ordinarily would have put in this paragraph.     Login or Subscribe to read the rest of this story.