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7.3 omission of that , which and who This is an area of English grammar that can be very confusing and whose rules are not well defined. The only certain rule is that you can never omit
whose .
If in doubt, the simplest solution is to never omit
that, which and
who .
1. You cannot omit
that in a defining clause when the subject of the phrase is also the subject of the verb. However, you can omit
that when the subject of the verb is different
from the subject of the phrase, and when the verb is in the present continuous.
2. You cannot usually omit
which or
who when these are used to introduce the final clause in a connective relative clause (7.2.3).
3. You cannot usually omit
which or
who in anon defining clause (7.2.1).
4. There are several exceptions to Rule 3:
who and
which can be omitted when attributes, ages, job positions and figures (tables etc) are mentioned.
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