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shabutie:
Funny thing about the word "that".

Most the time, you can remove it from the sentence and the sentence will still make sense.  (Sometimes minor word order needs to be changed, but it's overall a pretty useless word)



--- Quote from: kureshii on May 12, 2010, 11:26:18 AM ---2) He is the kind of person who ensures things which that are important get done.

--- End quote ---

For example, with this sentence:

He is the kind of person who ensures important things get done.


Another example being:

He told me that you guys were going out tomorrow.
He told me you guys were going out tomorrow.


The sooner we stop using the word 'that' needlessly the better ^_^

kureshii:

--- Quote from: shabutie on May 12, 2010, 07:55:12 PM ---Funny thing about the word "that".

Most the time, you can remove it from the sentence and the sentence will still make sense.  (Sometimes minor word order needs to be changed, but it's overall a pretty useless word)

--- End quote ---
Of course. I coined the example sentences that way to illustrate the proper use of the who/that/which possessives; they're not shining examples of concise construction.

Other useless phrases that need to go: "the fact that", "off of", "in order to". Those are off the top of my head. Redundant words in phrases must go, in the case of "advance planning", "past experience" and "I personally", among other examples. Use words such as "just", "exactly" and "very" sparingly (I removed them from this post in the course of self-editing, and was very tempted to add "in fact" at the start of this sentence too. Invitation to pointless redundancy lurks everywhere ;_;).

shabutie:
I agree.


The blame has to lie with schools...   It's so much easier to write a 500 word essay when you use nothing but fluff words.  I don't see how teachers can deal with reading the extra fluff thrown into papers.  A little fluff is ok, but when one sentence drags on and on for no reason other than to add to the total word count.

Rebs:
:D Well put kureshii.

As I read your post I began to think of the same thing posted by Shabutie. I have fallen victim to using "fluff" words to lengthen an essay. I would realize how useless these words were when, instead of an essay, I was required to do a short summary. After the first draft I would seek out the fluff words and phrases. This significantly reduced the word count.

However, sometimes these fluff phrases are the easiest way to place emphasis on the topic at hand. Also, when used in exaggeration :-\, they simply serve the purpose of annoying readers. The latter is often applied by me in forum games ;D

Edit: I treid to make this post grammatically correct and "non-fluffed", but I fear I have failed...

Path:
The zero relative pronoun works in restrictive clauses as long as the pronoun isn't the subject of said clause's main verb. In informal and/or colloquial writing, that and other relative pronouns are often omitted in relative clauses with prepositions, e.g., "This is the garden (that*) I used to play in."; this isn't done in strictly formal syntax—specifically, it can't be done, since the placement of the preposition necessitates the presence of the pronoun—e.g., "This is the garden in which I used to play."

Zero copulae are more interesting, but I digress.

* Technically, one could use either that or which, but in formal American English which is considered incorrect here. In British English it doesn't matter.

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