[Grammar] "that" no one did tableaux any more.

[sitifan]

The other committee members said no, the programs should be more modern, that no one did tableaux any more. (Idiom Drills, by George P. McCallum, page 55)

Is the clause in bold a noun clause? Is the word "that" optional?

 

[slevlife]

This is not standard correct grammar for written English, but it is a common way to shorten text in speech. The meaning and structure might be clearer if we rewrite this in longer form:

The other committee members [replied] that, no, the programs should be more modern, and they also said that no one [uses] [T]ableaux any more.

If you removed the word "that" in the original sentence, it would no longer have the "and they also said" meaning. It would sound like you're quoting or paraphrasing one thing they said instead of two.

Note that, since the reply from the other committee members is paraphrased, the "that" might also carry some of the meaning of "because." In other words the disuse of Tableaux was the justification given for why the programs should be more modern. But this part of my explanation needs a bit more context to be certain.