[Grammar] The day that Jake went to London to see Colin was Tuesday.

[sitifan]

1. Tuesday was the day when Jake went to London to see Colin. (Michael Swan)
2. Tuesday was the day that Jake went to London to see Colin. (Michael Swan)
3. The day when Jake went to London to see Colin was Tuesday. (Michael Swan)
4. The day that Jake went to London to see Colin was Tuesday. (written by me)

Sentences 1-3 are quoted from Practical English Usage, Third Edition, Section 130.
Is sentence 4 also acceptable to native speakers?

 

[emsr2d2]

In my opinion, your suggested sentence is an improvement on Swan's third. Is there some reason that Swan was suggesting using something other than the perfectly natural "Jake went to London to see Colin on Tuesday". What was the point of the section/exercise?

 

[5jj]

Is there some reason that Swan was suggesting using something other than the perfectly natural "Jake went to London to see Colin on Tuesday". What was the point of the section/exercise?

Swan is talking about cleft sentences: We can emphasise particular words and expressions by putting everything into a kind of relative clause except the words we want to emphasise; this makes them stand out. The structures are called 'cleft sentences' by grammarians ...

 

[sitifan]

In my opinion, your suggested sentence is an improvement on Swan's third. Is there some reason that Swan was suggesting using something other than the perfectly natural "Jake went to London to see Colin on Tuesday". What was the point of the section/exercise?

the place where ...; the day when ...; the reason why ...

We can use these expressions to emphasise a place, time or reason.

- Mary kept a pig IN THE GARDEN SHED .
The garden shed was the place where Mary kept a pig.
The place where Mary kept a pig was the garden shed.
- Jake went to London ON TUESDAY to see Colin.
Tuesday was the day when/that Jake went to London to see Colin.
The day when Jake went to London to see Colin was Tuesday.
- Jake went to London on Tuesday TO SEE COLIN .
To see Colin was the reason why Jake went to London on Tuesday.
The reason why Jake went to London on Tuesday was to see Colin.
The place, the day or the reason can be dropped in an informal style, especially in the middle of a sentence.

Spain's where we're going this year.
Why I'm here is to talk about my plans. ( More formal:The reason why I'm here is ... )

(quoted from Practical English Usage, by Michael Swan)