Omission of 'that' affects sentence status?

[Mwita Chacha]

Does a complex sentence lose its status when converted to its elliptical form? Specifically, does the sentence ''He said that he loved her'' change from being a complex sentence to being a simple sentence when ellipted to ''He said he loved her?''

[Joe Carillo]

No. Structurally, a complex sentence remains a complex sentence even if it is ellipted. The vanishing act of “that” from the sentence “He said that he loved her” to the elliptical “He said he loved her” is an arbitrary mind thing. It’s simply a more concise articulation that glosses over the subordinating conjunction “that” but doesn’t eliminate the main clause and subordinate relative clause in the construction—the key grammatical elements that, of course, mark it as a complex sentence.

[Mwita Chacha]

I thank you for the answer! But have you said that 'that' is a subordinating conjuction? That 'that' is not only a relative pronoun, but also a subordinating conjuction is something really new to me.

[Joe Carillo]

I found out only now, over three years later, that I overlooked responding to the rejoinder above, so I'm taking the opportunity to do so now to bring proper closure to the discussion:

That's right. "That" is a subordinating conjunction. In the complex sentence "He said that he loved her," for instance, "he said" is the main or independent clause and "he loved her" is the subordinate or dependent clause. The conjunction "that" links and subordinates the clause "he loved her" to the main clause "he said."

However, "that" can also function as relative pronoun particularly with reference to animals and inanimate things. In the sentence "They shooed the mongrel that chased my cat," for instance, "that" functions as relative pronoun to refer to the object of the main clause "they shooed the mongrel" as the subject of the subordinate clause "that chased my cat."