The omission of subject relative pronoun

Question

The sentence below is from Hemingway's book "The Old Man And The Sea."

http://esl-bits.net/Books/The_Old_Man_And_The_Sea/01/default.html

The odd thing about this sentence is that the subject relative pronoun "who" is missed. I know that any subject relative pronoun with parenthetical remarks can be omitted as following : Pictures of the baby the judge ordered should not be identified by reporters appeared in a Sunday newspaper.

But the sentence of The Old Man And The Sea makes me puzzled.

Can you give me your idea? If you can, I want to have typical example sentences.

Thanks in advance.

"It was papa made me leave. I am a boy and I must obey him."

CalifJim · Accepted Answer

Stenka25It was papa made me leave.

That IS the typical example sentence. It's a cleft sentence derived from the simpler "Papa made me leave".
You can construct all kinds of these yourself. Just start with "It is" or "It was".

The omission of 'that' or 'who' when it's the subject of the relative clause is not used in formal writing, but you will find it occasionally in dialogs which attempt to capture the speaking style of a fictional character. I just heard one in a British television drama a few evenings ago.

It strikes me as more typical of British style, and it seems to me that I've read that it is more commonly used in certain regions of Britain. Perhaps the American Hemingway picked up some features of that style and added them to his repertoire at some point in his writing career.

CJ

Stenka25 · Answer

Thanks as always, CJ.

The omission of subject relative pronoun

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