This means THAT IF something happens

Question

I am currently trying hard to adopt a more concise and succint way of expressing myself in English.

Hence, I was thinking that a phrase like "This means that in cases where the loans are not repaid, ..." is to wordy.

I wanted to reduce this to something like "This means that if the loans are not repaid, ..."

However, I am disturbed by "that if". Is this plain wrong?

Also, should I definitely try to avoid the passive in a formal context, i.e., substitute "the loans are not repaid" with "the debtors fail to repay the loans". The passive is shorter, but is it better???

Thanks a lot!

Clive · Accepted Answer

Hi,

However, I am disturbed by "that if". Is this plain wrong? No, it's fine.

Also, should I definitely try to avoid the passive in a formal context, i.e., substitute "the loans are not repaid" with "the debtors fail to repay the loans".

The passive is shorter, but is it better??? The passive is useful where the agent does not need to be mentioned. This is such a case. Where there is a loan, by definition there is a debtor, so you don't need to mention it.

However, generally speaking, active makes your meaning clearer than passive. In addition, passive actually tends to result in more words and longer explanations. Passive is often used by people to make what they are saying seem more important, or deliberately to make what they are saying more obscure. A lot of government writing is done with passive.

Perhaps you could say something like 'Outstanding loans will be ....'?

Best wishes, Clive

MrPedantic · Answer

Maybe: "So if loans aren't repaid..."

MrP

Bagle Lawyer · Answer

thanks to both of you.  that was very helpful!

This means THAT IF something happens

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