Learn English – What part of speech is “that” in this phrase

parts-of-speechwhich-that

I know that "that" can function as many different parts of speech, so what part of speech is it in the phrase "the stuff that dreams are made of"?

Best Answer

ODO believes it to be a relative pronoun:

that pronoun (plural those)
5 (plural that) [relative pronoun] used to introduce a defining clause, especially one essential to identification:
• instead of ‘which’, ‘who’, or ‘whom’:
   the woman that owns the place
• instead of ‘when’ after an expression of time:
   the year that Anna was born

[ODO]

The example “instead of which, who or whom” exactly matches your sentence.

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