A system administrator takes care of the inner workings

Question

I notice the note to Mister Micawber, it says:

A system administrator takes care of the inner workings of the entire system.

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Does it omit 'who' between 'administrator' and 'takes'?

Cf. A super user who takes care of forums.

CalifJim · Accepted Answer

kadioguyA system administrator takes care of the inner workings of the entire system.--------------Does it omit 'who' between 'administrator' and 'takes'?

No.

The subject is "a system administrator". Now what are we saying about a system administrator? We're saying that he or she "takes care of the inner workings of the entire system". This is the predicate.

Now if we say "a system administrator who takes care of the inner workings of the entire system", we have just expressed a subject. There is no predicate. We have "a system administrator", but we're saying there is more than one kind of system administrator, and we want to talk only about the kind of system administrator who takes care of the inner workings of the entire system. Now we still have to say something about that kind of system administrator, and there is no more in the sentence, so it's incomplete.

Compare:

That boy likes horses. (complete sentence)
That boy who likes horses (incomplete — It's only specifying which boy I'm talking about; it doesn't say anything about him.)

CJ

A system administrator takes care of the inner workings

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