The function of 'that'

Question

I had a student write the following sentence: There are some doors are jammed.

This sentence needs ‘that’ of course after doors (There are some doors that are jammed).

How do we explain to the students why this is needed here? What part of speech is it?

Thanks kindly.

AlpheccaStars · Accepted Answer

DC FosterHow do we explain to the students why this is needed here? What part of speech is it?

Combining sentences using relative clauses.
1.
There are some doors.
These doors are jammed.

Combine the sentences using a relative clause.
There are some doors that are jammed.

That is a relative pronoun, referring to "doors."
In the dependent clause, "that" is the subject of the verb "are."

Every clause needs a subject and verb.
"That" is required because otherwise there will be a missing subject.

2.
There are some women.
The women wear pink hats.

Combining:
There are some women who wear pink hats.

3.
When there is a helping verb "be," both the relative pronoun AND the helping verb can be omitted.

There are some women.
The women are wearing pink hats.

Combining:
There are some women who are wearing pink hats.
There are some women ~~(who are)~~ wearing pink hats.

This relative clause is called a "reduced" clause, or a non-finite clause.
The verb is not a full verb; it is a participle.
Some texts call this a participle phrase. It is a modifier. In the example above, the non-finite clause "wearing pink hats" modifies "women."

The function of 'that'

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