Re: as we know / as we know it / as is known to us

"Tacia" asks about:
The telephone ______ was the invention of Alexander Graham Bell.
(A) as is known to us
(B) as do we know it
(C) as we know it
(D) as we know

"Bert" answers:
(B) is grammatically wrong.

Agreed.

(A) and (D) are grammatically correct, but both of them
would read better with commas around the inserted phrase.

No, they're grammatically incorrect without the commas.

(D) sounds slightly pompous compared with (A),

I would have said the opposite, but in any case this is only a matter
of style.

but they both mean the same thing: we know that AGB invented the T.

Right, but this means that the clause is modifying the whole sentence
and is non-restrictive. And a non-restrictive clause must be set off
by commas.

(C) is also grammatically correct, and commas around the
inserted phrase (or pauses around it in speech) would
definitely be wrong. Its meaning is different: while
various things more or less resembling the telephone
had been invented by various other people, the telephone
IN THE FORM THAT WE NOW KNOW IT was the invention of AGB.

Correct. This is a restrictive clause (it restricts what sort of
telephone we're talking about) and is correctly written without commas.
So (C) is the right answer. [Grammatically, that is, not factually.]
--
Mark Brader "I can see the time when every city will have one."
Toronto -- An American mayor's reaction to the
msb@xxxxxxx news of the invention of the telephone

My text in this article is in the public domain.
.

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