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As an ESL learner, I find some English constructions quite odd. The following quote, for example, is missing a conjunction between the fact and I work.

"I can't find diapers or milk in the stores for my baby, despite the fact I work all day long. We want a better future."

I would write "(...) despite the fact that I work."

Why don't native writers use conjunctions more often? Is there a rule (that) I'm missing?

http://www.cbc.ca/news/world/venezuela-referendum-1.4208304?cmp=rss

Franks V. Maia
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    It's because that Portuguese doesn’t let you omit que where English allows you to omit that. See https://english.stackexchange.com/q/1095 https://english.stackexchange.com/q/35586 – tchrist Jul 17 '17 at 22:44
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    I'm voting to close this question as a duplicate of tchrist's linked questions, but I want to say that I enjoyed your little joke in the last sentence (the bracketed "that"). Was that intentional? – Dog Lover Jul 17 '17 at 22:54
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    The highest voted answer in the proposed duplicate is incorrect. It says "that can almost always be dropped." It can only be dropped if that is not the subject of the relative clause. For example, you can drop it in: This is the house that Jack built. But you can't drop it in: This is the maiden that milked the cow with the crumpled horn. – Peter Shor Jul 17 '17 at 22:59
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    On the other hand, that question has some really excellent answers that go into detail about exactly when you can and can't drop it. People should upvote them. – Peter Shor Jul 17 '17 at 23:05
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    @PeterShor That's true in formal registers, but not in casual speech. ... And by the way, I have always been annoyed by the linguists' common assertion that relative that is omitted; I know of no evidence that the omitted relativizer is in fact that rather than some wh- word. – StoneyB on hiatus Jul 17 '17 at 23:05
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    @DogLover Yes. The joke was intentional, but I wasn't 100% sure if it's right. I need to study the rules. Thanks! – Franks V. Maia Jul 18 '17 at 00:09
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    I really feel the sentence would read much smoother without the omission: "despite the fact that I work all day long". Something just seems off to me in this particular context. In other sentences, though, the omission is perfectly acceptable (and often preferred, in fact). Ex: "The laptop I bought works well." – Aleksandr Hovhannisyan Jul 18 '17 at 00:38
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    @AleksanderH: Google Ngrams agrees. This is a grammatical the fact that (i.e., the word fact is inserted because a noun is called for there), and when the word fact is inserted for grammatical reasons, it seems to almost always include that. – Peter Shor Jul 18 '17 at 03:37
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    @AleksandrH Definitely. You can sort of "feel" whether or not to drop the "that". – Dog Lover Jul 18 '17 at 10:29
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    Interestingly, inserting the fact that because a noun is called for seems to have started in the 19th century. I don't know what people did before that. See Google Ngrams. – Peter Shor Jul 19 '17 at 15:41

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