One should also note that various dialects of English, including some  
British dialects if I'm not mistaken, allow omission of the relative  
pronoun for subjects of the relative clause, that is, a sentence like  
"He's the man met me at the airport" is perfectly fine in these  
dialects.

Thank you to Herb for the enlightening list of conditions concerning  
the status of "that". This shows how enriching a look into a major  
reference grammar can be.

Dr. Johanna Rubba, Ph. D.
Associate Professor, Linguistics
Linguistics Minor Advisor
English Dept.
Cal Poly State University San Luis Obispo
San Luis Obispo, CA 93407
Ofc. tel. : 805-756-2184
Dept. tel.: 805-756-2596
Dept. fax: 805-756-6374
E-mail: [log in to unmask]
URL: cla.calpoly.edu/~jrubba

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