Example sentence for the scenario I have in mind:
We will bring the necessities that most people take for granted such as...
Is "that" better left omitted, or would omitting "that" create a grammatically incorrect sentence?
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1I'd leave it in. – Hot Licks Oct 05 '15 at 02:16
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@HotLicks why? Is it simply down to preference at this point, or does it contribute to the sentence in a meaningful way? Thank you for your feedback! – Dylan R. Oct 05 '15 at 02:34
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@DylanR. I'd say it's preference and style more than anything. – Dog Lover Oct 05 '15 at 03:19
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Well-explained here. – Oct 05 '15 at 05:49
3 Answers
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Grammatically-speaking you can omit "that" in object relative clauses. In object relative clauses the relative pronoun comes before a noun...in your case it is "that." Other examples:
These are the apples that mom picked this morning.
Where is the car that the policemen marked for towing?
If the pronoun comes before the verb in the second clause (subject relative clauses) then it cannot be omitted. For example:
I have a friend who writes detective novels. *I have a friend writes detective novels.
I live in a city that has moderate pollution. *I live in a city has moderate pollution.
In these cases, the relative pronoun cannot be omitted because they are the subject of the relative clause.
In some cases, however, "who" can be deleted if it precedes "is" or "are," and "is" and "are" can also be deleted. Examples:
She is the teacher who is responsible for the cheerleading team. She is the teacher responsible for the cheerleading team.
He is the professor who is teaching the class on quantum operators this semester. He is the professor teaching the class on quantum operators this semester.
This is called "Whiz deletion." This is a link that explains this in more detail http://www.wordwizard.com/phpbb3/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=24650
In your example, stylistically speaking--leave it in or take it out--that's up to you. I do, because I see "that" as dead wood.
From Grammar, Form and Function 3B by Milada Broukal
michael_timofeev
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If a relative pronoun (who, which, that) is the subject of its relative clause, it can't be deleted, because relative clauses are tensed and tensed clauses have to have subjects present. If it's not the subject, then it can be and often is deleted, leaving usually two nouns in a row: the noun that the relative clause modifies, followed by the subject of the relative clause. Two nouns in a row is a sufficient cue for a parser to recognize a relative clause, so the official marker is redundant. Unless the speaker decides it isn't. – John Lawler Oct 09 '15 at 23:34
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Agreed that it's a style choice, but it also depends how long the final sentence will be: I suggest leaving it in if you are emphasizing the necessities, as below:
"We will bring the necessities that most people take for granted such as wine glasses, an opener and a cutting board."
But I suggest leaving "that" out if you are adding additional clauses that emphasize the act of bringing.
"We will bring the necessities most people take for granted, such as cutlery and kitchen tools, given that we have not received an itemized list of what will be available at the house."
Elby Cloud
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I agree that it is just a matter of style. However, I would like to suggest that it would be better omit the 'left' from 'better left omitted', even though that is a comment on, rather than an answer to, the question.
