Dear Teachers,

1. I didn't investigate the thing you stole that car because I have high regard for your boss.

- Is this natural to say?

Thanks very much to Teachers,

 Stevenukd.

Stevenukd wrote:

Dear Teachers, 1. I didn't investigate the thing you stole that car because I have high regard for your boss. - Is this natural to say? Thanks very much to Teachers,  Stevenukd.

Hi Stevenukd,

The idea seems natural but it needs some work.   Did the second person steal the car or a "thing" from the car?

Perhaps "investigate" isn't the right word, because if you know the person is guilty, what's to investigate?  "Report" might be better.

Both "report" and "investigate" are transitive verbs and take a direct object.  As it stands, "thing" is the object.  What you might report/investigate is the theft, not the thing. 

It might be more natural to say, "I didn't report what you stole from the car . . . ." than to say, "I didn't report the thing you stole . . . ."

or  -  "I didn't report your theft from the/that car because . . . " [the rest is good.]

or  -  "I didn't report [that] you stole something from the/that car because . . ."

If the car was stolen  -   "I didn't report your theft of that car . . . "

or  -  "I didn't report [that] you stole the car . . . . "

or  -  "I kept quiet about you/your stealing that car . . . "

Best of luck,   - A.

Edit.  [Sorry, CJ, I didn't see your post.]

Maybe I shouldn't have assumed you knew the person was guilty, but that's what it seemed like.

Dear Teachers,

- Instead of saying "I have a high regard for your boss", can I say "I have great respect or I have great esteem for your boss" and are they the same meaning and common?

Thanks very much to Teachers,

 Stevenukd.