What structure is this?

Question

I would ask you, Donald, what are some things you say have made you the negotiator that you are today?Q) Considering the underlined part, I don't understand it. Is it grammatically correct?

Anonymous · Accepted Answer

I'm going to separate the sentence and see if you still understand it or not.

What are some things / you say / have made you the negotiator that you are today

Moon7296 · Answer

There are two verbs... in the sentence without a relative clause. That's why I'm confused..

Shouldn't the sentence something like this?: What are some things that you say that have made... ?

Anonymous · Answer

I'm not sure about the grammar aspect of it, but the sentence sounds fine in a conversational perspective. May need advice from the grammar experts in this forum.

One of the verbs could be an infinitive I think. And your last sentence 'What are some things that you say that have made...' sounds perfectly fine as well.

KJinCali79 · Answer

The example where you have inserted "that" and "that" make the sentence clearer, but it is my understanding this would be a case of a "superflous that", meaning you do not need to add them to the sentence for it to make sense.  I took this from another site:That can almost always be dropped. In your example, that is being used as a conjunction, i.e. it is introducing a subordinate clause as the object of the main sentence. In most situations where this is the case, it can be dropped. I cannot think of any where it can't be dropped.When that is used as a demonstrative pronoun, e.g. "that was a nice question," it must be kept or replaced with another pronoun, e.g. "yours was a nice question."When used as a relative pronoun, it can usually be dropped. For instance, "several people read the question that you wrote" can also be "several people read the question you wrote". But if used in a question with who, it should be kept. For example, "Who was the person that wrote this question?" cannot be *"Who was the person wrote this question?".

Moon7296 · Answer

Hi, I appreciate the answers.

I was still wondering something about this thread.

1. I would ask you, Donald, what are some things(that) you say (that) have made you the negotiator that you are today?

I understand that the first that between "some things" and "you say..." because you say is the subject and the verb for the noun "some things"; but I don't understand how the second that can be taken out.

What I understand is "that" can be omitted when a subject and a verb modifies the noun preceding them. But the second "that" in #1 does not modify anything and make the sentence have the two verbs in one clause: "are" and "have made".

I can't say a sentence like this, can I?: I have two pens made. <= It has two verbs in one clause.

Could you explain this matter a little more please?

What structure is this?

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