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Fire1 Posted 5 years ago
Grammar

What happened that

A. “Why would you have gone nuts? For the life of me I can't get anyone to tell me what happened that caused you to leave. They all act like it's a secret or something.

I learnt that relative pronouns can't be used to refer to "what", but as you see the 2nd line in sentence A, "that" seems to be refer to "what".

So what I'm curious to know is whether "that" in the 2nd line refers to/is connected to "what" and whether in the bold part, "which" can be used instead of "that".


Thank you very much

  

Top answer

fire1 as you see the 2nd line in sentence A, "that" seems to be refer to "what". Correct. , the fusion of "that" and "which".

— CalifJim

  • fire1 as you see the 2nd line in sentence A, "that" seems to be refer to "what".
  • Correct.
  • , the fusion of "that" and "which".
  • Thus, what = that which (or that thing which , if you want).
  • So it's to tell me that (thing) [ which/that happened (and) which/that caused you to leave].
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1 Answers
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fire1as you see the 2nd line in sentence A, "that" seems to be refer to "what".

Correct. 'what' is a fused relative, i.e., the fusion of "that" and "which". Thus,

what = that which (or that thing which, if you want).

So it's

to tell me that (thing) [

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