This simple word can be essential to clear communication … unless it’s not.

That wears a lot of hats. In a variety of scenarios, it can be:

• An adverb (I want a stack of pancakes about that big, but I don’t like syrup that much.)
• A demonstrative adjective (Should we order this pizza or that one?)
• A relative pronoun (The doughnut that I ate had chocolate frosting.)
• A subordinating conjunction (I think that I’d prefer sushi.)

In those last two examples, where that serves as a function word to introduce a dependent clause, can we all agree that that could be given some well-deserved time off? Maybe not, but hear me out.

As writers and editors, we want to communicate clearly and concisely. No need to clutter our sentences with extra words if readers can easily understand the information we’re providing without them, right? But before you search-and-delete all the thats from all your documents, let’s acknowledge that sometimes that needs to stay where it is for reasons of flow or clarity.

What the experts say

It probably wouldn’t shock you to learn that there isn’t much consensus about that. The opinions of grammar gurus range from the Associated Press’s somewhat vague “Use the conjunction that to introduce a dependent clause if the sentence sounds or looks awkward without it” to the more ominous guidance found in Garner’s Modern American Usage: “in formal writing, that is often ill-advisedly omitted.” Section 5.212 of The Chicago Manual of Style cautions, “When that is a conjunction, omitting it may result in a miscue or ambiguity, however slight.”

While there are no set-in-stone rules, there is some agreement that that can usually be deleted if it occurs after verbs of common speech or thought, such as say, think, know, and hear, when they introduce a dependent clause. For example, “CEO Chip O’Hoy said that cookie consumption increased threefold in the last quarter.” You could safely delete the that without causing confusion among your readers.

But those same experts say that should usually be retained after verbs like acknowledge, advocate, argue, assert, contend, declare, doubt, estimate, explain, find, hypothesize, make clear, maintain, point out, posit, predict, propose, report, see, and state. (Believe and claim showed up on both lists.) That’s quite a roster — heavy on terms seen frequently in scientific or academic writing, which can be its own little world at times — and I’m not sure I agree with all of them (“CEO Chip O’Hoy predicted cookie consumption would increase threefold in the next quarter” sounds fine to me). 

But that brings us to the point we all can agree on: If there’s the slightest chance readers could misread what you’re working on if you remove that, any likelihood they’d have to reread any part of a sentence to clearly understand it, leave that there.

As for the relative pronoun that, it can be omitted when it functions as the object of the verb in the relative clause. For example, “The sourdough starter that I dropped on the floor survived the five-second rule.”

A few other points to take into consideration:

• When introducing a subordinate clause that begins with a pronoun, you can often drop that. Like so: “Lauren doubted that she could eat a large order of fries.”
• If there is a time element between the verb and the dependent clause, retain the that for clarity. For example, “The restaurateur said yesterday that she would add cheesesteaks to the menu.” Maintaining the that makes it clear that the restaurateur spoke yesterday, not that cheesesteaks were added to the menu yesterday.
• Keep that in place if you’re introducing a quotation mid-sentence that forms a syntactical part of the sentence. For example, “My mother said that ‘fold in the cheese’ should be self-explanatory.”
• In the interest of clarity, maintain that when the dependent clause that follows it begins with a subordinating conjunction (e.g., after, although, before, since, unless, until, when). So you’d keep your fingers off the delete key for a sentence like “I told the server that although I don’t like cheese, I would like an entire cheesecake for dessert.”

What do you say?

Now that you’re an expert, take a look at these sentences and decide whether that should stay or go:

1. The researchers hypothesized that brownies increase worker productivity.
2. Cookbooks that he has written include Cooking with Ramen and Beyond PB&J.
3. Let’s all acknowledge that popcorn is nothing without butter.
4. My family said that my spaghetti sauce was perfect.
5. Our server pointed out that the house salad came with blue cheese dressing.
6. Sarah never claimed that she could make a soufflé.
7. I realized too late that I had used salt instead of sugar.
8. The cookbook that Dale borrowed from me is covered in flour.
9. The survey found that most diners prefer white rice in their burritos.
10. Jason read the menu carefully so that he could choose the perfect entrée.

The TL;DR version of the answer key is that you should retain that in the odd-numbered sentences, but you can delete it in the even-numbered sentences without causing confusion for your readers. 

Now, take a look at the following, slightly murkier examples and decide whether you’d keep that or remove it.

• I believe that Cap’n Crunch is superior to Lucky Charms.

If the sentence were “I believe that Frosted Flakes are superior to Lucky Charms,” you could easily omit that. In this instance, though, removing that means the sentence then begins with “I believe Cap’n Crunch.” Of course, an officer in the cereal navy is extremely credible, but that phrase could trip up your reader. Best to keep that, just to be safe.

• Jim said that whenever possible, you should add Old Bay to your chicken wings.

Before you start removing every instance of that after said, check for interrupting elements—“whenever possible” in this example—that come between that and the subject of the dependent clause. In those cases, you should probably err on the side of caution (and clarity) and leave that alone.

• Kate explained that she was allergic to seafood and that she would join us for dessert instead.

When that introduces two or more parallel clauses, be careful not to un-parallel them by deleting only the first that.

• The CEO reported that more testing would be required before the company would release its jalapeño-flavored bubble gum.

You might be inclined to remove that here, but that edit might cause confusion about what’s being reported. Better safe than sorry.

• A properly preheated oven ensures that your snickerdoodles won’t spread too much.

Ensure(s) that can be a bit tricky. It’s often more an issue of flow than ambiguity, so if your ear is bothered by an absence of that, leave it alone. The most important point to remember is that it’s dangerous to cut that indiscriminately. Conciseness is great, but writers and editors must also be mindful of tone, flow, clarity, and context. Sometimes it depends on your ear and your gut. Especially your gut. Is anyone else hungry?