Where does the "that" go?
"This notice is to inform you that, in accordance with blah blah blah, I am proposing to suspend you."
"This notice is to inform you, in accordance with blah blah blah, that I am proposing to suspend you."
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They're both okay, but the first is the common form. However, don't look at the word 'that' as coming after anything, it still precedes its clause. The first form makes it clearer that the 'proposing' is done in accordance with the rule. The second sounds like maybe the 'inform you' is what's done in accordance with those rules.– Yosef BaskinCommented May 18, 2017 at 20:16
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Are you informing in accordance with blah blah blah, or are you suspending in accordance with blah blah blah? Or both? If blah blah blah dictates a reason for suspension, I'd use the first. If blah blah blah dictates the requirement to announce such suspension, I'd use the second.– DavoCommented May 18, 2017 at 20:26
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2 Answers
The phrase beginning with in accordance with is providing additional information about what's going on. If we drop that from the sentence, we get:
This notice is to inform you that I am proposing to suspend you.
Okay, clear enough. But, am I (the author) doing so for a reason? Is there something that says I have to inform you or have to have a reason for the suspension? There might be one or the other. If the rules (whatever blah blah blah is) say I have to tell you (or, perhaps, tell you in a certain way), then I might say so:
This notice is to inform you, in the manner specified by blah blah blah, that I am proposing to suspend you.
On the other hand, if the rules don't say anything about how I'm supposed to tell you, but they do lay out the reasons why you could be suspended, then I might want to make sure you know that I'm doing it for one of those reasons and not just because you stole my cookies from the breakroom:
This notice is to inform you that, based on reasons allowed by blah blah blah, I am proposing to suspend you.
So the question isn't so much where the that goes but where the explanatory phrase goes -- and that's entirely dependent on the meaning of that phrase.
answered May 18, 2017 at 21:04
"This notice is to inform you that, in accordance with blah blah blah, I am proposing to suspend you."
"This notice is to inform you, in accordance with blah blah blah, that I am proposing to suspend you."
In (1), the blah-blah-blah backs up the proposed suspension.
In (2), the blah-blah-blah backs up the informing.
You'll probably want (1).
answered May 19, 2017 at 5:06
