The thing is is that ...

[Vile Consort]

... as if "the thing is" were the subject of the sentence.

It is extremely annoying. Even a contributor to "In Our Time" was doing it the other week.

[ahinton]

There really ought to have been a programme years ago entitled That Is The Week That Is; that is, the thing is is that that is what I think, anyway...

[aka Calum Da Jazbo]

so, like, er, the thing is ....
see below

[Thropplenoggin]

so the thing is ...............

You need to punctuate your sentence with 'like': 'so, like, the thing is...'. It's what all the cool inarticulate kids are doing.

[french frank]

You need to punctuate your sentence with 'like': 'so, like, the thing is...'. It's what all the cool inarticulate kids are doing.

Or just punctuate/pause - The thing is: [Then the statement of what the thing is].

[jean]

I've always thought that this arises because people remember the rhythm of a cleft sentence - What it is, is that... - and reproduce the same emphasis without analysing what they're saying.

[Honoured Guest]

... as if "the thing is" were the subject of the sentence.

It is extremely annoying. Even a contributor to "In Our Time" was doing it the other week.

"The thing is that [statement]."

It's a long long time since I studied grammar in the oldfashioned school approach, so I may well not now have a sound grasp of it. But isn't "thing" the subject in these sentences? And there's an implied adjective, maybe "fundamental", "crucial", "all-important" or "argument-winning". In these sentences, "[statement]" is an expression of the salient characteristics of the subject "thing", isn't it? I can't remember what the grammatical term is for this. Can anyone help me out?

[french frank]

"The thing is that [statement]."

It's a long long time since I studied grammar in the oldfashioned school approach, so I may well not now have a sound grasp of it. But isn't "thing" the subject in these sentences? And there's an implied adjective, maybe "fundamental", "crucial", "all-important" or "argument-winning". In these sentences, "[statement]" is an expression of the salient characteristics of the subject "thing", isn't it? I can't remember what the grammatical term is for this. Can anyone help me out?

The point was (I think) that the speaker starts off the sentence in such a way that s/he feels it necessary to repeat the verb, giving rise to the 'is is' construction. 'The (crucial) thing is that we should remain calm' - no need for any repetition.

[jean]

But isn't "thing" the subject in these sentences?

In the example being considered, yes it is, according to any standard analysis.

But in the cleft sentence I gave above, the subject is the whole clause 'what it is'.

I suggested there that the speaker remembers the rhythm of the cleft sentence, and also perhaps feels the need for more initial weight to stand in for the unarticulated "fundamental", "crucial", "all-important" or "argument-winning".

But what if our example were regarded as a related ellliptical version, viz.

'The thing (that it) is, is that...'

Then even the most Latin-bound grammarian should be satisfied.

[jean]

...no need for any repetition.

O reason not the need! Our basest beggars
Are in the poorest thing superfluous.
Allow not nature more than nature needs,
Man's life's as cheap as beast's.

[Serial_Apologist]

O reason not the need! Our basest beggars
Are in the poorest thing superfluous.
Allow not nature more than nature needs,
Man's life's as cheap as beast's.

Is that Blake, Jean?

[Thropplenoggin]

Is that Blake, Jean?

Shakespeare. Lear.

Standards are slipping. This isn't R3, you know!

O tempora! O mores!

[jean]

(Which is Cicero, in case anyone was wondering.)

[Serial_Apologist]

(Which is Cicero, in case anyone was wondering.)

Thanks, jean. English Lit was never one of my subjects...

[ardcarp]

Going off topic as usual, I am reminded of learning the pluperfect in Latin at the age of about 11, and the whole class being convulsed with laughter at 'had had', which the more you said it the funnier it became.

And then there is the sentence with the word 'and' used 5 times consecutively. Anyone know it?