ansumania wrote:
As per the book, "That or Whom can be dropped when the modified noun is the object of the modifying clause"

e,g: right: the movie THAT we watched last friday was scary.

right: the movie we watched last friday was scary.

pl. explain here how the "modified noun is the object of the modifying clause" here.

1)The movie we watched last friday was scary.
The movie here is the object of the sentence (the movie was affected by the action or verb watch, hence it's the object of the sentence)
2) "that we watched last night" is the modifying clause, because it adds extra information about the movie that modifies the noun movie, in this sentence it makes it more specific (the movie... vs the movie "that we watched last night")
the sentence satisfies these two parts of the rule so you can take that/which out

Adding some more examples:

If u need to understand even better checkout the link below

https://unamsanantoniolab.com/eng/adject ... es/ex1.htm



Object of Preposition:

Like the relative pronoun that, whom and which can generally be omitted when they act as the object of the verb in a relative clause. Thus, the preceding sentences could also be rewritten:
The boy we saw is her brother.
The hat you are wearing is rather large.

It should be noted that when whom or which is the object of a preposition, the preposition immediately precedes the relative pronoun.
e.g. The boy to whom we sent the message was excited.
The room to which you will be conducted has beautiful furniture.
In these examples, whom and which are immediately preceded by the preposition to.

However, when the relative pronoun that is the object of a preposition, the preposition is normally placed at the end of the relative clause. For instance, if that is used, the second example must be rewritten as follows:
The room that you will be conducted to has beautiful furniture.
b. That
When used as a relative pronoun, that can refer to either persons or things. The relative pronoun that is generally used only in defining relative clauses. In the following examples, the relative clauses are underlined.
e.g. The people that were here yesterday will return in a month.
The newspaper that was on the steps belongs to our neighbor.
In these examples, that has the antecedents people and newspaper, and introduces the defining relative clauses that were here yesterday and that was on the steps.

In the preceding examples, that acts as the subject of the verbs were and was. When it acts as the object of a verb or preposition, the relative pronoun that can usually be omitted.
e.g. The books that we bought are heavy.
The town that this road leads to is five miles away.

Hope this helps!!!