I have been trying to find the correct difination for this word useage for a while. 

it is ” hyphen That”  -that and it means therefore back in 1935 a book was written and the word was used so that it could not be changed and the meaning of the sentance remain intact. however over the years people have confused this, and tried to make it something else.  you may e-mail directly, and I will be back here over the next few days.

thank you all for your replys,  respectfully JofoSlade

Maybe you should rewrite your question again. It doesn’t make any sense as it is.

I meant to say, “Maybe you should rewrite your question,” not, “Maybe you should rewrite your question again.” Oops.

OK, I do not wish to bring up a discussion regarding the topic of which I am going to write about….I am seeking the defination of the use of the word “-that”.

The sentence which it is used is the first step in the program of AA.

The sentence is,

“We admitted we were powerless over alcohol -that our lives had become unmanageable”

the way “-that” is used in this sentence, means therefore.  so it could be interpeted as

“we admitted we were powerless over alcohol THEREFORE our lives had become unmanageable.”

making our unmanageable lives the result of our inability to quit drinking, as the result of the addiction to alcohol.

This ties the entire step one of the program into one statement, and not two different issues.

This is very important for those with the disease of alcoholism to understand this key word, -that.  so I am asking for those who trully know the correct difination to respond.  I Respectfully submitt this for comments.

Respectfully, John

Jofo, the sentence is ok as it is - its admitting two different things which are not necessarily linearly dependent. 

“-that” in the AA context saves having to say “we admitted” twice.  For some people, becoming powerless over alchohol is a consequence of life becoming unmanageable, for others its the other way round.

“-that” also adds emphasis; when you say it out loud it requires a pause after admitting to being powerless, followed by acknowledgement that life has become unmanageable.

Grammatically, a colon after “alchohol:  ” would serve the purpose rather than using a dash or adding in a connective word.

I agree with Doug. The second part of the sentence adds emphasis to the first. However, examining the grammar of the sentence might help.

“That” in the sentence in question is a relative pronoun, like “who.” “whom,” and “which.” Relative pronouns “relate” one part of a complex sentence to another.

For example, in the sentence, “He lives in the house that sits on the hill,” the subordinate clause, “that sits on the hill” relates back to the first part of the sentence and helps define which house.

When a sentence has two “that” clauses, it’s harder to interpret. For example:

“He lives in the house that sits on the hill that my family once owned.” Did the family once own the hill or the house?

Or take the old joke from the movie, Mary Poppins: “I met a man with a wooden leg named Smith.” Was the man named Smith or the leg?

When you start adding dashes or colons, the meaning can become even more subject to interpretation.

The sentence in question, “We admitted we were powerless over alcohol - that our lives had become unmanageable” could have been written:

“We admitted [that] we were powerless over alcohol [and also] that our lives had become unmanageable” or
“We admitted [that] we were powerless over alcohol [and therefore] that our lives had become unmanageable.” 

Usually, however, the addition of a dash or a colon suggest that the last clause (i.e., “that our lives had become unmanageable) is a restatement of the first and is used for emphasis.

Break your sentence into its simplest parts and you get:

We admitted [something]
We were powerless over alcohol.
Our lives had become unmanageable.

When you put it back together and it becomes a complex sentence, the meaning also is more complex and therefore subject to interpretation. It could mean that an unmanageable life was the result of powerlessness, or that the unmanageable life was an example of powerlessness.

I don’t think that the meaning of “that” is the problem. Rather, I think it’s the dash between the two clauses that creates the potential for multiple meanings. I still think it’s a restatement for emphasis, however. It’s one problem (alcohol) with several results.

Both of you are very good,  I can not express how clearly both of you made this for me.

there are two camps in recovery, one side says there is a disease which causes the addiction to alcohol, another camp says it is a moral or psychological problem. the truth strange to say is both. while under the infulance the addiction has hold,  when sober the spirit has a hold on the actions of the individual.  the trick is to get those who have had an addiction problem to PAUSE before jumping off into old habit patterns and making foolish decisions.

the -that refers to the two conditions being tied together, before the rest of the steps are taken. so many stop there and think they can stay sober.

is this making sence?  I know my spelling is bad, I’m working on it.

Again thank both of you, and soon we’ll get into decision, and is making a decision an actual “Doing thing” or is it still the consideration stage.  I claim that if you make a decision, you have made up your mind, and something has happened within the mind of the one making the decision.

Respectfully,  JofoSlade

Thanks for the thoughtful reply.  Hope something we said here will help someone else along the way.

douglang - 27 March 2009 11:23 PM

Jofo, the sentence is ok as it is - its admitting two different things which are not necessarily linearly dependent. 

“-that” in the AA context saves having to say “we admitted” twice.  For some people, becoming powerless over alchohol is a consequence of life becoming unmanageable, for others its the other way round.

“-that” also adds emphasis; when you say it out loud it requires a pause after admitting to being powerless, followed by acknowledgement that life has become unmanageable.

Grammatically, a colon after “alchohol:  ” would serve the purpose rather than using a dash or adding in a connective word.

my Big Book has a comma, not a hyphen.