Why doesn't "that clause" come after "want"

Question

i thx in advance...

Usenet · Accepted Answer

[nq:1]i thx in advance...[/nq]
It does, if you're saying "I want that clause."

Usenet · Answer

[nq:1]i thx in advance...[/nq]
...bcs is wrng.

Usenet · Answer

[nq:1]It does, if you're saying "I want that clause."[/nq]
LOL! !

Usenet · Answer

[nq:2]i thx in advance...[/nq]
[nq:1]...bcs is wrng.[/nq]
LOLOLOLOLOL..soo gay! Poor original poster. These peeps is whack. They make fun of you because they don't like your accent and they want that you should go back to your country.

Usenet · Answer

[nq:1]i thx in advance...[/nq]
Ask a rel qustn & u wil gt an ansr.
\P. Schultz

Usenet · Answer

[nq:1]i thx in advance...[/nq]
If you're asking about a relative clause beginning with the subordinating conjunction "that," there is no good answer to your question. As Donna Richoux and I and others around here have tried to explain, most of these "why" questions have no good answer. We don't know why you can't put a "that"
clause after "want" in stead of a "to" infinitive. We know that* you can't but not "*why you can't. (The preceding sentence establishes that a "that" clause is just fine after "know.")

The best answer to your question is simply that this is a matter of idiom, of The Way English Works. Some verbs can be followed by "that" clauses, and some cannot. "Want" is one of those that cannot. The reason we know this is that when you say something to a native English speaker like "I want that we go to the movies," you are likely, if you are an obvious non-native speaker, to be told that your sentence is grammatically incorrect. Native speakers do not say things like that (except, perhaps, in certain non-standard dialects, which I mention only so the carpers won't get a free carp).
You didn't ask for advice, and it seems reasonably clear that you expected someone to be able to answer your question. But in general you're not going to get much help asking questions like that, because there is no simple rule for which kinds of structures can follow which verbs in English. Some of the better dictionaries offer help in finding out which verbs take which constructions, but there are no general rules. And there are, therefore, no good answers to "why" questions like yours.
And in case YJ has read this far and wonders why you got some fairly snotty responses, he might consider (1) that the question asked has no good answer; (2) that the poster seems to have no grasp of Usenet communication; and (3) that they might have seen the poster's email address, which seems to me to invite that sort of response.

Liebs
Pontificating away at full speed

Usenet · Answer

}>> i thx in advance...
}>
}>...bcs is wrng.
}
} LOLOLOLOLOL..soo gay! Poor original poster. These peeps is whack. They } make fun of you because they don't like your accent and they want that you } should go back to your country.
The really funny thing is that Young Joey has given the most sophisticated answer I've seen so far in this thread, while still posing as the champion of the oppressed underdog. Nice work, Joe.

R. J. Valentine
Take the LSAT cold and see how you do.

Usenet · Answer

[nq:1]Native speakers do not say things like that (except, perhaps, in certain non-standard dialects, which I mention only so the carpers won't get a free carp).[/nq]
Oh, they might, Robert! They could carp at your definition of non-standard being based on circular logic and majority arrogance. All terms are up for definition when it comes to being PC.
Personally, I prefer haddock.

Redwine
Hamburg
(who was born as PC as it gets...)

Why doesn't "that clause" come after "want"

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