‘We Act As If ... , And ...’?

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Hello, everyone,

“Sometimes we act as if our human intelligence and self-awareness is the only kind worth having, and that other beings must be and behave like us.”

While recently I’ve found ‘as if’ clause is followed by ‘that’ clause, I feel ‘and’ by itself would be enough without ‘that’, because I think the conjunction ‘as if’ solely is covering the whole two sentences here to make likely comparisons. I would appreciate if you kindly explain me why the author added ‘that’ in this context with its function here.

* source; ‘Scary Smart: The Future of Artificial Intelligence and How You Can Save Our World’

https://books.google.co.kr/books?id=DTMlEAAAQBAJ&pg=PT21&lpg=PT21&dq=%22we+act+as+if+our+human+in...

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deepcosmosI would appreciate it if you kindly explain me why the author added ‘that’ in this context with its function here.

I see no reason to add 'that' in the given sentence.

By the way, certain verbs take a preparatory 'it' before the if-clause (sometimes a when-clause):

like it if, love it if, prefer it if, hate it if, appreciate it if, worth it if, notice it if

I prefer it when they serve the salad last.
They're worth it if you can find them on discount.
Fred is so busy he wouldn't notice it if they left without him.

And also, explain me, explain you, ..., is always wrong. If you ask someone to explain something, it automatically means you want them to explain it to you.

If there really is any need to be so explicit, use "to me", "to you", ....

I'll explain this rule to you later.

CJ

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deepcosmosI would appreciate if you kindly explain me why the author added ‘that’ in this context with its function here.

I see what you mean, but the sentence is clearer with "that". Without it, the clause "and other beings must be and behave like us" can be interpreted as "consequently other beings must be and behave like us". Still, the grammar of "that" is on the shaky side in my opinion. I would rather have seen a more parallel construction, like "Sometimes we act as if our human intelligence and self-awareness is the only kind worth having, as if other beings must be and behave like us.”

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 CalifJim's reply was promoted to an answer.

Hi, CJ, thank for your support as always .

CalifJimI see no reason to add 'that' in the given sentence.

Oops, I forgot 'it'.

CalifJimIf there really is any need to be so explicit, use "to me", "to you", ....I'll explain this rule to you later.

Yes, noted with thanks.

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