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Relative Pronoun

nik256

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Updated on: 21 Jan 2023, 21:02

Originally posted by nik256 on 21 Jan 2023, 18:28.
Last edited by nik256 on 21 Jan 2023, 21:02, edited 1 time in total.

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Hello everyone,

Can someone tell me why is the sentence below correct even though it has 2 independent clauses??

These are the books the librarian has marked to be donated to the local school

Thanks in Advance

GMATNinja
MartyTargetTestPrep
egmat

Please help regarding the same

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ezigmat

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21 Jan 2023, 20:55

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Clause 1 (main/independent): “these are the books”
Clause 2 (subordinate): “the librarian has marked…”. Subordinate because its primary purpose is to modify the main clause.

I’m surprised that there is no “that“ between “books“ and the rest of the sentence as in a relative clause. Is this an official GMAT question?

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nik256

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21 Jan 2023, 21:02

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ezigmat

its actually a part of a well known course which says both the structures are fine (i.e with/without that)

ezigmat

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22 Jan 2023, 14:42

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Hmm..I don’t know for sure if this construction is outright wrong, but from what I’ve seen in my studies, Gmat does prefer the construction with “that”.

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egmat

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22 Jan 2023, 23:19

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nik256

Hello everyone,
Can someone tell me why is the sentence below correct even though it has 2 independent clauses??

These are the books the librarian has marked to be donated to the local school

Thanks in Advance

Please help regarding the same

Hey nik256 and ezigmat

Thank you for the question.

ezigmat, your breakdown of the sentence is correct.

ezigmat

Clause 1 (main/independent): “these are the books”
Clause 2 (subordinate): “the librarian has marked…”. Subordinate because its primary purpose is to modify the main clause.

Clause 2 is a dependent clause that modifies the noun "the books".

Now, you're right that the relative pronoun "that" has been omitted. And this is correct.

Rule: When a relative pronoun replaces an OBJECT in the dependent clause, it is often omitted. However, when it replaces the subject, it cannot be omitted.

These are the books (that) the librarian has marked to be donated to the local school.
Notice that the relative pronoun "that" refers to "the books", and "the books" is the object of the verb "has marked" in the dependent clause.

The librarian has marked the books to be donated to the local school.
These are the books (that = the books) the librarian has marked to be donated to the local school.

A few more examples of "that" omitted when it behaves as an object:

The thing I need most is peace of mind.
My brother found the chocolates I had hidden for later.

Exercise: In each of the above examples, see if you can spot the Dependent Clause, and identify whether the missing "that" is the object of the verb in the dependent clause.

Now, as far as the GMAT is concerned, the violation of this rule is NOT a deterministic error. So, "that" as an object may or may not be present in a valid sentence. Look for other deterministic errors to eliminate an answer choice.

Here are official examples of:

"that" as object of verb and omitted: https://gmatclub.com/forum/since-1986-w ... 43043.html
"that" as object of preposition and omitted: https://gmatclub.com/forum/there-is-a-d ... 69526.html
"that" as object of verb and not omitted: https://gmatclub.com/forum/like-the-gra ... 10047.html

I hope this helps.

Happy Learning!

Abhishek

nik256

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[1]

23 Jan 2023, 00:33

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egmat

nik256

Hello everyone,
Can someone tell me why is the sentence below correct even though it has 2 independent clauses??

These are the books the librarian has marked to be donated to the local school

Thanks in Advance

Please help regarding the same

Hey nik256 and ezigmat

Thank you for the question.

ezigmat, your breakdown of the sentence is correct.

ezigmat

Clause 1 (main/independent): “these are the books”
Clause 2 (subordinate): “the librarian has marked…”. Subordinate because its primary purpose is to modify the main clause.

Clause 2 is a dependent clause that modifies the noun "the books".

Now, you're right that the relative pronoun "that" has been omitted. And this is correct[/b

[b]Rule: When a relative pronoun replaces an OBJECT in the dependent clause, it is often omitted. However, when it replaces the subject, it cannot be omitted.

The librarian has marked the books to be donated to the local school.
These are the books (that = the books) the librarian has marked to be donated to the local school.

A few more examples of "that" omitted when it behaves as an object:

The thing I need most is peace of mind.
My brother found the chocolates I had hidden for later.

"that" as object of verb and omitted: https://gmatclub.com/forum/since-1986-w ... 43043.html
"that" as object of preposition and omitted: https://gmatclub.com/forum/there-is-a-d ... 69526.html
"that" as object of verb and not omitted: https://gmatclub.com/forum/like-the-gra ... 10047.html

I hope this helps.

Happy Learning!

Abhishek

].

thank you so much

ezigmat

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23 Jan 2023, 08:57

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Thanks a lot! So glad I saw this post or I would never have known about this rule.

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