I came across this phrase:
I see negotiations have gone as planned.
Why is there no article before negotiations? For example:
I see the negotiations have gone as planned.
I think that the determiner 'that' should be in this sentence too:
I see that the negotiations have gone as planned.
Is there something special about the word 'negotiations'? What is the rule here?
I see the negotiations have gone as planned.
When THE is missing in the problem example, it functions as a generic statement.
Of the two options you mentioned, "I see that the negotiations have gone as planned." is correct being more specific where 'that the' makes sense. The second one needs improvement.
The word 'negotiations' in this sentence is a mass noun. It can also be count, but here the speaker is referring to negotiations in general.
Some nouns can be both count and noncount. When they change from a count to a noncount noun, the meaning changes slightly. In the noncount form, the noun refers to the whole idea or quantity. In the count form, the noun refers to a specific example or type.
Source: academicguides.waldenu.edu
The definition of a mass noun is this:
a noun denoting something that cannot be counted (e.g. a substance or quality), in English usually a noun which lacks a plural in ordinary usage and is not used with the indefinite article, e.g. China, happiness
Source: Lexico
So here, 'the negotiations' is unnecessary and changes the meaning.
Regarding 'that', as you can see from this question and answer, it is used as a complimentiser and can be dropped from the sentence without changing meaning.
