English Relative Clauses - Status of that

Status of that

The word that in the uses described above has traditionally been regarded as a relative pronoun; however, according to some linguists it ought to be analyzed instead as a subordinating conjunction or relativizer. This would be consistent with the use of that as a conjunction in such sentences as I said that I was tired. According to Rodney Huddleston and Geoffrey Pullum, that is not a relative pronoun but a subordinator, and its analysis requires a relativized symbol R: "The film that I needed is not obtainable," where R is the covert object of "needed" and has "the film" as an antecedent. This is the same type of analysis as would be required if that were omitted, which is possible in this case.

Differences between that and the other basic relative pronouns (which, who) include the restriction of that to restrictive relative clauses, and the impossibility of preceding it with a preposition. Similarities between relative that and the ordinary conjunction that include the almost invariable use of the weak pronunciation /ðət/, and the frequent possibility of omission.