When I read Nancy's two examples: Molly hates Fred isn't coming to the party. Molly hates that Fred isn't coming to the party. I thought this was another, this time unfamiliar, difference between British and American English, for I knew that we say we certainly say 'hates it that' in the second case and never use the first construction. Both sentences as they stand are incorrect in British English. Then Peter suggests 'hates it that' as a better formation, so I am assuming that it is NOT a difference between British and American. Joanna, too, found the two examples unsatisfactory. Compare: 'He can't absorb the fact that they've succeeded.' One can't say 'He can't absorb that they've succeeded.' As Herbert says, one needs some kind of noun equivalent to be the object of the main verb, noun ('the question that', 'the proposal that', 'his view that', etc.) or pronoun ('it' after 'hates'). Edmond Dr. Edmond Wright 3 Boathouse Court Trafalgar Road Cambridge CB4 1DU England Email: [log in to unmask] Website: http://people.pwf.cam.ac.uk/elw33/ Phone [00 44] (0)1223 350256 To join or leave this LISTSERV list, please visit the list's web interface at: http://listserv.muohio.edu/archives/ateg.html and select "Join or leave the list" Visit ATEG's web site at http://ateg.org/