How do you correct the sentence ?
I read some sentences in the movie " The fault in our stars " :

I believe we have a choice in this world about how to tell sad stories. On the one hand, you can sugarcoat it, the way they do in movies and romance, novels, where beautiful people learn beautiful lessons, when nothing is too messed up that can't be fixed up with an apology and a Peter Gabriel song. I like that version as much as the next girl does, believe me. It's just not the truth. This is the truth.

But probably there are some mistakes in the sentence "WHEN nothing is too messed up THAT can't be fixed up with an apology and a Peter Gabriel song." someone argued that it should be " WHERE... THAT..." or " WHERE..., THEY... " or WHEN..., THEY..." or WHERE..., THEY..." ,please kindly help check which is correct, thank you so mucn for your help.

Question

How do you correct the sentence ?
I read some sentences in the movie " The fault in our stars " :

I believe we have a choice in this world about how to tell sad stories. On the one hand, you can sugarcoat it, the way they do in movies and romance, novels, where beautiful people learn beautiful lessons, when nothing is too messed up that can't be fixed up with an apology and a Peter Gabriel song. I like that version as much as the next girl does, believe me. It's just not the truth. This is the truth.

But probably there are some mistakes in the sentence "WHEN nothing is too messed up THAT can't be fixed up with an apology and a Peter Gabriel song." someone argued that it should be " WHERE... THAT..." or " WHERE..., THEY... " or WHEN..., THEY..." or WHERE..., THEY..." ,please kindly help check which is correct, thank you so mucn for your help.

Answer

", when nothing is too messed up that can't be fixed up with an apology and a Peter Gabriel song."

I agree that part is bad.  I think you can fix it in one of these two ways:
1. WHERE nothing is SO messed up THAT IT can't be fixed up with an apology and a Peter Gabriel song.
2. WHERE nothing is TOO messed up TO be (easily) fixed up with an apology and a Peter Gabriel song.
(#1 seems more natural to me, and I believe "it" should represent "nothing", not "they")

"too ... to ..." can generally be rephrased as "so ... (that) ... can't/shouldn't/etc", as in:
- I am too lazy to keep a pet = I am so lazy I can't keep a pet.
- It's too cold outside for you to go out and play = It's so cold outside you shouldn't go out and play.

Obviously, you can't mix these two patterns, like "too ... that ..." (as in your original sentence) or "so ... to ...".

Answer

Thank you so much Ivan.

Answer

From the perspective of a native English speaker, these can all be correct. In casual conversation, I could easily hear someone use any combination of 'when, where, that, they' here.

I know that doesn't really help you though so I won't post that as an answer. Perhaps some proper English grammar gurus could shed some light on this.

Answers · 4

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