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Deepcosmos Posted 4 years ago
Grammar

‘we act as if ... , and ...’

Hello, everyone,

“Sometimes we act as if our human intelligence and self-awareness is the only kind worth having, and that other beings must be and behave like us.”

While recently I’ve found ‘as if’ clause is followed by ‘that’ clause, I feel ‘and’ by itself would be enough without ‘that’, because I think the conjunction ‘as if’ solely is covering the whole two sentences here to make likely comparisons. I would appreciate if you kindly explain me why the author added ‘that’ in this context with its function here.

* source; ‘Scary Smart: The Future of Artificial Intelligence and How You Can Save Our World’

https://books.google.co.kr/books?id=DTMlEAAAQBAJ&pg=PT21&lpg=PT21&dq=%22we+act+as+if+our+human+intelligence+and+self-awareness+is+the+only+kind+worth+having,+and+that%22&source=bl&ots=fQeDIkouSm&sig=ACfU3U1exPJaRXlgtRxNEBrumX-bQ2qLVw&hl=ko&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiDjbKWrqj6AhU-mVYBHe54Dt4Q6AF6BAgDEAM#v=onepage&q=%22we%20act%20as%20if%20our%20human%20intelligence%20and%20self-awareness%20is%20the%20only%20kind%20worth%20having%2C%20and%20that%22&f=false

  

Top answer

deepcosmos I would appreciate if you kindly explain me why the author added ‘that’ in this context with its function here. I see what you mean, but the sentence is clearer with "that". Without it, the clause "and other beings must be and behave like us" can be interpreted as "consequently other beings must be and behave like us".

— Anonymous

  • deepcosmos I would appreciate if you kindly explain me why the author added ‘that’ in this context with its function here.
  • I see what you mean, but the sentence is clearer with "that".
  • Without it, the clause "and other beings must be and behave like us" can be interpreted as "consequently other beings must be and behave like us".
  • Still, the grammar of "that" is on the shaky side in my opinion.
  • ”
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2 Answers
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deepcosmosI would appreciate if you kindly explain me why the author added ‘that’ in this context with its function here.

I see what you mean, but the sentence is clearer with "that". Without it, the clause "and other beings must be and behave like us" can be interpreted as "consequently other beings must be and behave like us". Still, the grammar of "that"

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deepcosmosI would appreciate it if you kindly explain me why the author added ‘that’ in this context with its function here.

I see no reason to add 'that' in the given sentence.

By the way, certain verbs take a preparatory 'it' before the if-clause (sometimes a when-clause):

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