How do you say something like that?

“There’s a thing for which I don’t know what it is” “There’s a thing where I don’t know what it is” “There’s a thing that I don’t know what is”

or (the one which I hear people say a lot but sounds awkward:) “There’s a thing that/which I don’t know what it is”?

To be honest they all sound awkward to me to varying degrees

  • redimk@lemmy.dbzer0.com
    33·
    1 year ago

    I’m not a grammar expert and English is not my first language but I think I used to say this before and I just ended up taking out the “what it is” and changed it for the thing I’m trying to remember:

    There’s a thing that I don’t know the name of

    Or

    There’s a thing that I don’t know how to describe

    Or

    There’s a thing whose purpose is a mystery to me

    Is that what you’re refering to? Sorry if it’s not. I don’t think any of the first three examples are correct, or at least they sound really weird to me.

    Please do correct me if there’s an English mayor somewhere though!

    • locuesterEnglish
      31·
      1 year ago

      Your solutions are perfect. Very well stated.

      • a native English speaker