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Let's look at the sentence.

He is such a bad person whom no one wants to talk to.

Is the sentence grammatically correct? If it's correct, can I rewrite the sentence as: He is such a bad person that no one wants to talk to. One more sentence is:

This is such a place where everyone wants to live.

Is it grammatically correct?

2 Answers 2

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The sentence is not idiomatic, but your alternative version is almost correct.

He is such a bad person that no-one wants to talk to him.

Similarly, your second sentence should be either :

This is such a nice* place that everyone wants to live here.

*or any synonym of 'nice'.

or:

This is the kind of place that everyone wants to live in.

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  • Let's say a man named Ram teases girls. Now if I say "Ram is a bad person and I don't like such people" will it be correct? So I use 'such' in this sense. Then why can't I say "This is such a place where everyone wants to live"? I'm confused. Commented Jan 5, 2023 at 12:35
  • That particular usage of such is very old-fashioned. Through Google Ngrams I found this, describing Rochester, Kent in the 1790s: The bishop never resides there, for although there nominally is a palace , it is such a place as is not fit for the reception of any private gentleman. Nowadays we would say it is the kind of place. Commented Jan 5, 2023 at 13:54
  • @SahilLaskar We generally: I don't like people like that. Or those kinds of people. OR that kind of person.
    – Lambie
    Commented Jun 6 at 21:18
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Based on the comments following on from this question, I think there is a confusion about different uses of the word such. In particular it can be an adjective ...

Of the character, quality, or extent previously indicated or implied.
In the past few years many such women have shifted to full-time jobs.

... or an adverb ...

To such a degree (=so)
such tall buildings
such a fine person

(This from Merriam-Webster)

Now consider this sentence from the OP:

He is such a bad person whom no one wants to talk to.

He the grammar is not quite correct, and it's because we are mixing the two forms of such. The basic sentence is:

He is a bad person whom no one wants to talk to.

No we can add such in both senses, adjective/adverb. But the grammar in each case is different.

Adjective - He is a bad person, such as no one would want to talk to.

Here such (as) means of the kind that. As noted, it is old fashioned, and today we are more likely to say He is the kind of bad person whom no one would want to talk to.

Adverb - He is such a bad person that no one wants to talk to him.

Here such is an intensifier: Not only is he bad, he is so bad that no one wants to talk to him.

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