student asking question

Can I skip "that" here? Is it necessary?

teacher

Native speaker’s answer

Rebecca

You can skip "that" in this situation. However, you would have to replace "that" with an article instead, such as "the" or "a." This is because the sentence would be grammatically incorrect. The word Chinese needs an article before it because it is acting as an adjective; it is describing what kind of box it is. The sentence is incomplete without some kind of article before it. Ex: Funny thing about a Chinese takeout box, it's actually American. Ex: Funny thing about the Chinese takeout box, it's actually American.

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