That

Six-frame cartoon. Frame 1: Bespectacled editor stands in a garden park with her hands on her hips and watches other editors walk by with roadblocks labelled “THAT.” She says, “What are y’all up to?” One editor says “Decluttering sentence!” The other editor says, “We’re eliminating THATs!” Frame 2: Bespectacled editor smacks her forehead and says, “Wait—no! You can’t just indiscriminately remove all THATs! Some of them serve an essential function!” Frame 3: She says, “now you’ve gone and confused your reader over there,” pointing out of frame. Frame 4: We see a person standing on a path just as it forks, with her hand on her chin, unsure which way to proceed. Bespectacled editor, out of frame, says “See?” Frame 5: Bespectacled editor says, “May I?” and takes one of the THAT roadblocks from one of the other editors. Frame 6: She places the roadblock in one of the garden paths, and the reader says, “Ohhhhh… Thanks!”
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Check out Carol Saller’s 2021 blog post “When to Delete That,” for some expert guidance.

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