Opinionsthat

Opinionsthat is a term used in linguistic and computational discourse to refer to sentences that express subjective opinions and use a that-clause to embed them. The concept treats the that-clause as the core repository of the opinion, distinguishing these constructions from other types of reported speech or factual claims. The term is not widely standardized in publishers, but it appears in discussions about how opinion and stance are encoded in language data.

Etymology and scope. Opinionsthat combines the words “opinions” and the subordinating conjunction “that,” signaling a pattern where a speaker’s judgment is asserted or attributed and followed by a that-clause. This framing helps researchers categorize sentences like “I think that this policy is misguided” or “Experts that advocate that approach warn of risks.” The focus is not on the main clause’s content alone but on the embedded content of the opinion expressed within the that-clause.

Usage in research and applications. In linguistics and natural language processing, opinionsthat-type constructions are examined to improve stance detection, sentiment analysis, and opinion mining. Annotated corpora may label sentences containing embedded opinions with that-clauses to train models to recognize subjective content beyond simple polarity. They also pose challenges, such as distinguishing genuine opinions from quoted or reported statements and handling negation or hedging within the that-clause.

Relation to related concepts. Opinionsthat relates to the broader study of opinion, stance, and sentiment, as well as to that-clause syntax and reporting verbs. It complements analyses of evaluative language and authorial attitude in discourse and can inform cross-linguistic comparisons of how opinions are embedded in sentences.