Why "flat is better than nested"?

[Andreas Waldenburger]

On Wed, 27 Oct 2010 22:47:35 -0700 (PDT) alex23 <wuwei23 at gmail.com>
wrote:

> On Oct 27, 7:58 pm, Robin Becker <ro... at reportlab.com> wrote:
> > >> "I know that that that that that boy said is wrong!".
> >
> > well they say nested is hard. How about this break down
> >
> > I know that X that a boy said is wrong. (any boy)
> > I know that X that the boy said is wrong. (a single boy)
> > I know that X that that boy said is wrong. (a specific boy)
> 
> But your original statement maps out to:
> 
> I know that X that that that boy said is wrong.
> 
> So this would apply to a specific 'that boy', hence Stefan's
> question :)

No, it wouldn't, hence Stefan's (and your) error. It maps to a specific
boy. Replacing "that"s where possible, it becomes:

I know that [the] "that" [which] that boy said is wrong.

/W

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