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(I'm learning English, so please correct any mistakes or poor English.)

When reading a post I've seen this comment:

Stupid idea from a bunch of guys got fame for helping people steal stuff – now they want to help you beg for money.

I think these guys have high hopes of gettin any real traction with this.

Is it correct to say "... guys got fame..."? Hasn't he forgotten the "that" word, as in: "... guys that got fame..."?

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I'd prefer " .. guys who <b><i>won</i></b> fame .." – John Oct 6 '10 at 1:29
1  
Intuitively I would say that the idea got fame in this construct, not the guys. Which context then renders absurd. – malach Oct 8 '10 at 7:57

5 Answers

up vote 2 down vote accepted

The comment probably meant

Stupid idea from a bunch of guys who got fame for helping people steal stuff

(Bold emphasis mine.)

So your guess is pretty close. I'm not sure whether that is any less 'correct' a word to use than who, though.

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2  
It is equally acceptable to use "that" or "who" in this context. – Vincent McNabb Aug 13 '10 at 5:55
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I think it sounds strange to refer to fame as a commodity in this way, so rather than adding that or who, the correct way to say this would actually be more along the lines of

Stupid idea from a bunch of guys who became famous for helping people steal stuff

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It doesn't sound strange at all to me - it's a North American slang usage. – delete Aug 13 '10 at 5:59
1  
I think so. Like I said on @jeffamaphone answer. The "got" word in "got fame" is like "obtain", "gain" or even "achieve". I would say "A stupid ideia got fame for helping people steal stuff". – KeyneON Aug 13 '10 at 13:39
up vote 2 down vote

Using that might make it sound okay if you change fame to famous:

...bunch of guys that got famous for helping people...

Which is how one might say it out loud, though when writing I would try to avoid using that in favor of the who form proposed by @Ch00k.

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I understand... When a native read the text of the comment, in the way it was written, sounds good? Or like a mistake? – KeyneON Aug 12 '10 at 23:53
I would classify it as "slightly awkward". – jeffamaphone Aug 13 '10 at 0:00
Why "that got famous" is better than "that got fame"? Is there an easy way to understand? – KeyneON Aug 13 '10 at 0:25
"that got fame" is better than "that got famous". "Fame" is something you can get. "Famous" is not something you can get. Famous is something you become. But... it could be a different story 20 years from now. – Vincent McNabb Aug 13 '10 at 5:57
1  
@Vincent McNabb, @Keyne: Maybe this is a regional thing, because whereas a number of people have said it sounds fine to them, "got fame" sounds plain wrong to me - whereas "got famous" is fine. Where I come from (UK) "get" can be used (informally) to mean "become" (for example "I used to like it but I got tired of it"; "You're getting too big for your boots" etc). – psmears Feb 5 '11 at 18:40
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up vote 0 down vote

Stupid idea from a bunch of guys got fame for helping people steal stuff – now they want to help you beg for money.

I think these guys have high hopes of gettin any real traction with this.

This English is "slangy". Regularized into standard English it would be something like

This is a stupid idea from a group of people who became famous for helping people steal. Their new idea is basically to help you beg for money.

I think these people have very little hope of succeeding to any great extent

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up vote 0 down vote

I think this fame of a thing needs not to cause furore;that got fame is the correct answer and not even 'who...'It should be well observed that masculine is referred to and not in another context or meaning.

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