Grammar Girl here, today's topic is the word that.

When do you need it and when can you leave it out?

Also at the end of this show, I'll have an announcement about extra book giveaways and

my book tour.

Now, guest writer Bonnie Tringer writes, today we're going to talk about when it's okay to omit

the word that in a sentence.

These two sentences, the turkey sandwich I ate yesterday had too much mayonnaise, and

the turkey sandwich that I ate yesterday had too much mayonnaise, mean the same thing.

And that sentence is perfectly fine to leave out the that.

In a similar vein, the sentences I said I would eat a sandwich, and I said that I would

eat a sandwich are equal.

So are you allowed to leave out the that in such cases?

Well, it depends.

When you're deciding whether to keep or omit your that, you need to consider how your

sentence flows.

Many times it's just a matter of personal preference.

Some people think adding that improves the flow of the sentence and makes it easier

for the reader to understand.

Others believe they should delete every seemingly unnecessary that because they want to maintain

an economy of words.

I'm all for cutting unnecessary words, but I often like to keep my that if it helps the

rhythm of the sentence.

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