Linguistic question re IV

[Paul Mackin]

On 8/9/2011 9:02 AM, David Morris wrote:
> The police know he was there, but they need a witness, someone willing
> to be on record.
>
> 2011/8/9 János Széky<miksaapja at gmail.com>:
>> There is Jade apologizing on page 84: "...the cops told us they'd drop
>> charges if we just put you at the scene, which they already knew you
>> were so where was the harm..."
>> The syntax seems to be elliptical here so please tell me what 'which
>> they already knew you were' means exactly.
>>
>> Thanks,
>> János
>>
This not very grammatical pattern of spoken American English is very 
common.  Well understood and requiring the fewest possible words.

Americans are lazy, which is why they use as few words as possible, 
which is getting worse, which we already knew.



P