The 4-year-olds often chose to look at the marshmallows while waiting, a strategy that was not terribly effective.
Can I omit "that was" in the sentence above?
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Sign up to join this communityThe 4-year-olds often chose to look at the marshmallows while waiting, a strategy that was not terribly effective.
Can I omit "that was" in the sentence above?
The 4-year-olds often chose to look at the marshmallows while waiting, a strategy not terribly effective.
That sounds perfectly fine and concise.
From what I understand, usually you drop a relative pronoun when it's followed by a present/past participle, or when it is the object in the second clause:
Those make sense...
But for some reason you can drop it in your example when it's the subject, yet not followed by a present/past participle:
I would NOT say "The 4-year-olds often chose to look at the marshmallows while waiting, a strategy not effective." (I would just say "... an ineffective strategy.") So perhaps it's a phrasal thing? I'm honestly not sure. For some reason the "not terribly effective" part sounds a bit British to me.
Absolutely not, the sentence would not make sense without.
If you really want to drop that was
then try:
... a not terribly effective strategy.