How would you interpret this sentence?

Question

So if I said "Tell Mike that Steve is busy and we are out of paper"

I sent this to someone and they decided that my instructions were to tell Mike that Steve is busy and the fact that we were out of paper was not part of the message for Mike but more for the personal info of the person reading the message.

I wanted Mike to know we were out of paper but obviously that did not get translated into the message Mike received. Should I have worded it differently? Should I have placed "that" after "and" and if so, is there a grammatical explanation? Is my grammar horrible enough to cause confusion?

CalifJim · Accepted Answer

AnonymousShould I have worded it differently?

Yes.

AnonymousShould I have placed "that" after "and"

Yes.

Anonymousif so, is there a grammatical explanation?

Tell Mike
that ............
and
that ............
is what you wanted.
______________
Tell Mike that ................
and
we are out of paper.
is what you got.

AnonymousIs my grammar horrible enough to cause confusion?

So it seems, but as you become more familiar with English, it will become more obvious to you when you have written a sentence that could cause confusion, and you'll know how to fix it so that it is not confusing.
.
CJ

Khoff · Answer

I agree that adding the second "that" would improve the sentence, but even with the original wording I would have assumed that I was being asked to say to Mike "Steve is busy, and we are out of paper."     Otherwise, there would be no reason to combine the two disparate thoughts into one sentence.  "Tell Mike that Steve is busy.  And by the way, we're out of paper." would be more natural.

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