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I've seen sentences like:

The electrons emitted from the photoelectric surface have a kinetic energy.

I think this is synonym to :

The emitted electrons from the photoelectric surface have a kinetic energy.

But I believe that the first sentence should be like:

The electrons that are emitted from the photoelectric surface have a kinetic energy.

Isn't this adverb phrase necessary?

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  • Just a thought - The whole purpose of communication is to express something to someone (or something) with utmost clarity and with minimum number of words (respecting all rules of grammar). So if two sentences, which are grammatically accurate, conveys the same thing (without any ambiguity), it makes more sense to use the shorter sentence. This makes communication much easier and effective.
    – Varun Nair
    Commented Feb 9, 2017 at 7:42

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In the sentence "The electrons that are emitted from the photoelectric surface have a kinetic energy," "that are emitted from the photoelectric surface" is a relative (or adjective) clause, not an "adverb phrase." Notice that the clause in question refers to the noun "electrons," and cannot be adverbial.

In English, relative clauses can usually be abridged or reduced, and that is what happens in "The electrons (that are) emitted from the photoelectric surface have a kinetic energy."

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