Please check this appositive clause grammar as it sounds wrong to me

Question

This sentence is from New Concept English 2: "The way that he explained to us was quite simple."

This sounds totally unnatural to me without an object. My American English brain wants to say "The way that he explained it to us was quite simple."

Does the appositive clause allow us to drop the object? Does this sound unnatural to anyone else?

Thanks in advance!
Clay

Park sang joon · Accepted Answer

We can see what is quite simple here. that's "the way explained by him."
Why need you an unnecessary object?

Fivejedjon · Answer

ClayMatthews"The way that he explained to us was quite simple."

In that sentence, 'He' explained a way, a method of doing something, to us,

ClayMatthews"The way that he explained it to us was quite simple."

In that sentence, 'He' explained it to us. Presumably what 'it' is has been mentioned in the previous sentence.

ClayMatthews · Answer

I guess this didn't sound odd to anyone else. Maybe just in the style of my particular dialect? Oh well.

Thank you fivejedjon for the concise and clear explanation. It answers my question.

Please check this appositive clause grammar as it sounds wrong to me

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