Dave's ESL Cafe's Student Discussion Forums

[Linh]

Could you tell me what "you know" is called (in discourse) in the following sentence?

It's not just the places you were born into, because, you know, this is a beautiful country.

Thank you in advance.

[Eric Thompson]

Dear Linh, I've got a book, Commanding Sentences, that calls your example a 'parenthetic word group'. That sounds alright...You know, a more commonly used (especially among the youth) word for 'you know' is 'like'. It's, like, a bit slangy. Like, you know?

[Linh]

Thank you so much! I'm very glad because, you know, finally I've got the answer. It's, like, easing myself of a burden . ('cause I'd searched everywhere and just couldn't find the answer )