The fact which(that) I told you is not true.

Status
Not open for further replies.

keannu

VIP Member
Joined
Dec 27, 2010
Member Type
Student or Learner
Native Language
Korean
Home Country
South Korea
Current Location
South Korea
Just to check out a workbook mistake, in this example, both which and that can work, right?

ex)The fact which(that) I told you is not true.
 

SirGod

Member
Joined
Feb 26, 2010
Location
Romania
Member Type
Interested in Language
Native Language
Romanian
Home Country
Romania
Current Location
Romania
* Not a teacher

I think that is a better option than which in this particular case, but both would work.
 

Tdol

No Longer With Us (RIP)
Staff member
Joined
Nov 13, 2002
Native Language
British English
Home Country
UK
Current Location
Japan
They both work for me, but as it's not true, is it a fact? What I told you is not true would work better for me.
 

emsr2d2

Moderator
Staff member
Joined
Jul 28, 2009
Member Type
English Teacher
Native Language
British English
Home Country
UK
Current Location
UK
Just to check out a workbook mistake, in this example, both which and that can work, right?

ex)The fact which(that) I told you is not true.

I agree with Tdol that if it isn't true, it's not a fact. However, if you had told someone something earlier in the day which you had claimed was a fact and you were now going back to them to tell them that you had discovered that you were wrong, you might say "Sorry, the "fact" ... is not true" or "Sorry, that "fact" has turned out not to be a fact!"

My personal opinion is that you need neither "that" nor "which".

The thing I told you is not true.
 

Tdol

No Longer With Us (RIP)
Staff member
Joined
Nov 13, 2002
Native Language
British English
Home Country
UK
Current Location
Japan
I've always considered fact to be the opposite of opinion, but not always true. As in:

5 : a piece of information presented as having objective reality (emphasis mine)

You might hear, "I don't believe you; get your facts straight." Here the "facts" are suspect, but they're still facts.

But The fact I told you isn't true doesn't work for me. You could say What I said was a fact wasn't true, but without saying something like this, the sentence is a mess to me because it contradicts itself if it uses the word fact.
 

BobSmith

Senior Member
Joined
Jan 4, 2012
Member Type
Interested in Language
Native Language
English
Home Country
United States
Current Location
United States
Status
Not open for further replies.
Top