Could I put a that after "thought" ( "Not as good as I thought that it would be.") or would the sentence no longer be grammatical? If I could it would probably be redundant anyway but I just want to know whether this is a that omission or not.
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1Looks like a duplicate of ell.stackexchange.com/questions/4549/….– Andy SchweigCommented Apr 10, 2016 at 16:33
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1 Answer
Yes you can.However,the relative pronoun in the above mentioned sentence is not necessary,because it is the object of the relative clause.So it is possible to leave it out.
As a rule of thumb,there are two common occasions, particularly in spoken English, when the relative pronoun is omitted:
- When the pronoun is the object of the relative clause. In the following sentences the pronoun that can be left out is enclosed in (brackets):
Do you know the girl (who/m) he's talking to?
Where's the pencil (which) I gave you yesterday?
I haven't read any of the books (that) I got for Christmas.
I didn't like that girl (that) you brought to the party.
Did you find the money (which) you lost?
Note: You cannot omit the relative pronoun
a.) if it starts a non-defining relative clause, or,
b.) if it is the subject of a defining relative clause. For example,"who" is necessary in the following sentence:
What's the name of the girl who won the tennis tournament?
- When the relative clause contains a present or past participle and the auxiliary verb to be. In such cases both relative pronoun and auxiliary can be left out:
Who's that man (who is) standing by the gate?
The family (that is) living in the next house comes from Slovenia.
She was wearing a dress (which was) covered in blue flowers.
Most of the parents (who were) invited to the conference did not come.
Anyone (that is) caught writing on the walls will be expelled from school.
