# That's Optional: A Contemporary Exploration of "that" Omission in English Subordinate Clauses

arXiv: https://arxiv.org/abs/2405.20833 · HTML: https://mlsanity.com/paper/2405.20833/

## Key facts

- No citing papers in the map yet (data through 14 Oct 2026).
- Builds on 7 of its 25 references that are in the map.
- First posted on arXiv 31 May 2024.

## Builds on (most cited first, 7 of 7)

- [Attention Is All You Need](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1706.03762/) (2017)
- [OPT: Open Pre-trained Transformer Language Models](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2205.01068/) (2022)
- [Revisiting the Uniform Information Density Hypothesis](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2109.11635/) (2021)
- [On the Effect of Anticipation on Reading Times](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2211.14301/) (2022)
- [A Cross-Linguistic Pressure for Uniform Information Density in Word Order](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2306.03734/) (2023)
- [Understanding who uses Reddit: Profiling individuals with a self-reported bipolar disorder diagnosis](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2104.11612/) (2021)
- [CodeSwitch-Reddit: Exploration of Written Multilingual Discourse in Online Discussion Forums](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1908.11841/) (2019)

## Abstract (arXiv)

The Uniform Information Density (UID) hypothesis posits that speakers optimize the communicative properties of their utterances by avoiding spikes in information, thereby maintaining a relatively uniform information profile over time. This paper investigates the impact of UID principles on syntactic reduction, specifically focusing on the optional omission of the connector "that" in English subordinate clauses. Building upon previous research, we extend our investigation to a larger corpus of written English, utilize contemporary large language models (LLMs) and extend the information-uniformity principles by the notion of entropy, to estimate the UID manifestations in the usecase of syntactic reduction choices.