Fraternal Twins

[Sage Pearce-Higgins]

The word 'that' is not just a relative pronoun, it has other functions too (https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/that).

It can be used as a conjunction, for example "He said that he wanted something to eat." Plus it can be used as a relative pronoun, for example "The dog that bit me lives here."

Your example "It is a fact that the earth goes around the sun." is a good one. Sure, the phrase 'that the Earth goes round the Sun' is not giving information about (modifying) the word 'fact'; it's actually the fact itself. However, in answer D, the phrase 'that highlights...' clearly is a modifier, as it's stating something the fact does.

So, to conclude, I think Ron is wrong about this one. He's correct to mention that you can use 'it' without an antecedent in some situations (e.g. "It's raining."), but the way the phrase is used here, the word 'it' does need an antecedent. Nice work.

[WeiL965]

The word 'that' is not just a relative pronoun, it has other functions too (https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/that).

It can be used as a conjunction, for example "He said that he wanted something to eat." Plus it can be used as a relative pronoun, for example "The dog that bit me lives here."

Your example "It is a fact that the earth goes around the sun." is a good one. Sure, the phrase 'that the Earth goes round the Sun' is not giving information about (modifying) the word 'fact'; it's actually the fact itself. However, in answer D, the phrase 'that highlights...' clearly is a modifier, as it's stating something the fact does.

So, to conclude, I think Ron is wrong about this one. He's correct to mention that you can use 'it' without an antecedent in some situations (e.g. "It's raining."), but the way the phrase is used here, the word 'it' does need an antecedent. Nice work.

Appreciate your kind response.
Thanks a lot.

[Sage Pearce-Higgins]