Please tell me if the following sentence is correct or makes logical sense
I am too busy to realise John is depressed.
I think it is grammatically correct and it means I am so busy that I don't realise that he is depressed. Am I right?
But the fact that I am myself telling this sentence means that I do realise that John is depressed. So would my saying this sentence to someone confuse them about I realise or not?
Please help me.
Thanks!
Best Answer
As you suggest, this sentence is grammatically correct but, logically incorrect: if you are too busy to realise, you don't know that John is depressed.
What you are far more likely to say, on finding out that John had (for example) attempted suicide, would be:
You are probably still busy but the news is much more important than what you are doing, so you are no longer too busy to realise.
It is OK to omit the that in informal spoken English, but it is better to include it in written English.