Mostly in my first fiction book, I have included the word 'that' often when I am referring to something. I am curious as to whether it is even necessary. Here is an example. Which one is correct or sounds more appealing?: "...yet his diary suggest that his ideal life changed." "...yet his diary suggest his ideal life changed."
They are both OK, but your subject/verb are not in agreement. diary suggests dairies suggest 'That' can be stated or implied in many sentences.
oh, fab question! I am ALWAYS getting into trouble for using 'that' too often! I now try to eliminate it where possible and only use it sparingly, like when referring back to something or a past event. "It seemed that she'd only gone in for that procedure to get money out of him. After all, it didn't really matter to her that he'd got the money from his dead aunt's estate. She'd actually though that had been an excuse for his first refusal to give in to her but that was not the case. She'd found that out when she'd confronted him about it and he'd shown her the letter from his aunt's solicitor." could become: "It seemed she'd only gone in for the procedure to get money out of him. After all, it didn't really matter to her that he'd got the money from his dead aunt's estate. She'd actually though that had been an excuse for his first refusal to give in to her but it was not the case. She'd found out when she'd confronted him about it and he'd shown her the letter from his aunt's solicitor."
