What is "that", and do I need it?

Question

I was writing a couple sentences:"I'm sure that if I had a million dollars...""I was shocked to learn that here was a perfectly normal guy..."What is the role of "that", and is it necessary in those sentences? In the first case it seems like I could drop "that", but in the second case I'm not so sure.

Kooyeen · Accepted Answer

Hi,
welcome to EnglishForward.

"That" can be used in several situations with several meanings.
In your first sentence it seems a conjunction:
I'm sure (that) you'll like it here.
I told her (that) you'd like to go to Santa Rosa instead.
I believe (that) English is not so difficult after all.
You can usually leave out that kind of "that". To be sure, you should always check a dictionary for learners, so you can see if a certain verb or adjective can be used that way. For example, you can't say "I want that you go", because that structure is not possible.
I don't understand your second sentence, I think there's a subject missing... wait, maybe you meant "...that there was..."
So, yeah, you can leave out that one too.

Ardarvin · Answer

Thanks, that helps a lot. Here's the complete second sentence:
"I was shocked to learn that here was a normal guy, who happened to be blessed with the ability and confidence to be the baddest climber around."
So I did mean to use here, as in "here's a guy...". I realize this is quite informal, but is it grammatically wrong?

What is "that", and do I need it?

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