0

The results suggest that unexpected noise produces fatigue but that this manifests itself later.

This sentence is from Cambridge English. I know the meaning of this sentence but I am confused about the usage of that and this.

What are the meanings of that or this in the sentence？And what are their grammatical functions in this sentence？Thanks a lot.

Improve this question

1 Answer 1

Reset to default
4

The two words "that this" are not part of the same construct.

There are two instances of "that" in the sentence, but the important thing is that they both have the same function, linking back to "the results suggest".

Meanwhile, "this" refers to the thing that was just stated.

So, you can interpret it like this:

The results suggests two things:

  • unexpected noise produces fatigue
  • this fatigue manifests itself later
Improve this answer
5
  • Thank you for your reply. But I still have a few questions. There are two instances of "that" in the sentence, Do you mean that1 and that2？The results suggest that1 unexpected noise produces fatigue but that2 this manifests itself later. If you mean so can I delete either that1 or that2 because they both lead to object clauses and they do not have actual grammatical functions（they are not subjects or predicates or objects）？ Also can I change this in the sentence to it？Thank you.
    – user510487
    Commented Jul 25 at 12:15
  • Well, both "that"s are required gramatically, but could be omitted in casual speech. And yes, "this fatigue" could be replaced by "it".
    – Daniel Roseman
    Commented Jul 25 at 12:23
  • Thank you for your answer. I am wondering since two “that”s are not subjects or predicates or objects neither in the main clause nor object clauses，they are nothing，why both "that"s are required gramatically？ Secondly，**this** can be interpreted as this fatigue and this fatigue can be replaced by it so can I rewrite the original sentence to *The results suggest that unexpected noise produces fatigue but that it manifests itself later.*？Thanks a lot.
    – user510487
    Commented Jul 26 at 0:31
  • They are conjunctions. If you had one simple phrase, "The results suggest that unexpected noise produces fatigue", would it be clearer? And yes, as I said in the previous comment, you could use "it" there but I think that would detract from the clarity, as "it" could also refer to "unexpected noise".
    – Daniel Roseman
    Commented Jul 26 at 8:28
  • Thank you for your explanation. I really appreciate it.
    – user510487
    Commented Jul 26 at 23:30

You must log in to answer this question.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged .