Relative Clause Removal of "Relative Pronoun"
So I have a grammar book that says you can remove relative pronoun when it is used in defining relative clause, if it is non-defining you can't.
For example:
The man who we met yesterday was a sales representative.
The man we met yesterday was a sales representative.
both correct. But:
My father, who you met yesterday, lives in Germany.
According to the book you can't remove "who" from this sentence. Is this acceptable for all cases or just particular ones?
Solution 1:
The book has it right, except for one further condition: you cannot remove the relative pronoun when it functions as the subject of the relative clause.
So:
The man [who] we met yesterday... - "who" is optional. But
The man who came to see us yesterday... - "who" is required.
Solution 2:
The rule you cite is mostly true, but it's not complete, because just mentioning "relative pronouns" doesn't distinguish between
-
wh-words like who and which, on the one hand, which can occur with all relative clauses,
and -
that, which can occur only on restrictive (integrated, defining) relative clauses,
- The man whom we met yesterday was a sales representative.
- The man who we met yesterday was a sales representative.
- The man that we met yesterday was a sales representative.
- The man Ø we met yesterday was a sales representative.
But that can't occur on non-restrictive (supplementary, non-defining) relative clauses,
(in what follows, ungrammatical English sentences are *marked with asterisks)
- The chairman, who(m) we met yesterday, was once a sales representative.
- The chairman, who we met yesterday, was once a sales representative.
- *The chairman, that we met yesterday, was once a sales representative.
- *The chairman, Ø we met yesterday, was once a sales representative.
Non-restrictive relative clauses also bar relative pronoun deletion,
as the last ungrammatical sentence shows.
The rule also doesn't distinguish between most relative pronouns and those relative pronouns -- either that or wh-word -- that are the subject of their relative clause. Subject relative pronouns are also immune to deletion; English tensed clauses require a subject, and this requirement overrides.
- The man who met us yesterday was a sales representative.
- The man that met us yesterday was a sales representative.
- *The man Ø met us yesterday was a sales representative.