en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buffalo_buffalo_Buffalo_buffalo_buffalo_buffalo_Buffalo_bu...
1 correction found
when this pronoun is omitted, the relative clause becomes a reduced relative clause.
Omitting only the relative pronoun does not create a reduced relative clause. It creates a zero-relative/contact clause; reduced relatives are typically non-finite or verbless and omit more than just the pronoun.
Full reasoning
This sentence mixes up two different constructions.
If you omit that/which from a defining object relative clause, standard grammar describes the result as a zero relative or contact clause. Purdue OWL gives examples like “The library did not have the book that I wanted” → “The library didn't have the book I wanted” and explains that the relative pronoun may be omitted in object position.
By contrast, a reduced relative clause is a shortened clause that is typically non-finite or verbless. The Oxford Dictionary of English Grammar defines a reduced clause as “a shortened clause, particularly a non-finite or verbless clause ... interpreted as a relative clause with its relative pronoun and finite verb omitted,” giving “Anyone scared of heights ...” (= “Anyone who is scared of heights ...”) as an example.
The Cambridge Dictionary of English Grammar likewise distinguishes a contact clause—a relative clause “expressed without a relative pronoun” — from a reduced clause. So in Buffalo buffalo [that] Buffalo buffalo buffalo ..., removing that does not make the clause reduced; it makes it a zero-relative/contact clause.
3 sources
- Introduction to Defining Clauses - Purdue OWL
"the relative pronoun may be omitted in the object position"; e.g. "The library did not have the book that I wanted" / "The library didn't have the book I wanted."
- The Cambridge Dictionary of English Grammar
A "contact clause" is a relative clause "expressed without a relative pronoun (i.e. with zero relativizer for the object of the relative clause)."
- The Oxford Dictionary of English Grammar
A "reduced clause" is "a shortened clause, particularly a non-finite or verbless clause ... interpreted as a relative clause with its relative pronoun and finite verb omitted," e.g. "Anyone scared of heights ..." = "Anyone who is scared of heights ..."