there was an old man in the apartment who was very rich对不？如果去掉th

There was an old man in the apartment who was very rich。是对的。

如果去掉there was就不对了，因为剩下的部分只是一个名词短语，而不是完整的句子。

an old man in the apartment who was very rich（这不是句子）

一位非常富有的住在公寓里的老人

There was an old man in the apartment who was very rich.(完整的句子)

公寓里住有一位非常富有的老人。

There was an old man who was very rich in the apartment. 这么写更恰当些。其实你不用这么啰嗦，直接写There was a rich old man in the aparment.就可以了，不需要任何从句形式。

如果按照楼主的格式，there was是不可能去掉的。因为去掉了there was，楼主的句子就没有了谓语动词。 There was 是倒装句型，was是整句话的谓语动词呀。如果被去掉，An old man who was very rich in the apartment. 谓语动词在哪里？这就出现了语法错误。如果一定要去掉there was, 也不是不可以，但要添加谓语动词，把整句话该为 A rich old man lived in the apartment.

句子正确， 不能省略there was。