Relative Pronouns & Adjective Clauses

RELATIVES
Relative pronouns (i) – Diagram
Relative ( ii ) - Possessive : Whose
Relatives - Adverbial meaning
Special relatives : But
Exercises
Cleft - sentences

RELATIVE PRONOUNS (i) Which that  * * In Defining clauses the object relative pronoun can be omitted if it is not preceded by a preposition. Who(m) that  * * In Defining clauses the object relative pronoun can be omitted if it is not preceded by a preposition. Object Which that WHO that Subject Non person Person Ant Funct.

Relative (ii) -Possessive: Whose
If the relative is in a genitive relation to a noun head, it usually has the form “WHOSE”.
The woman is Mrs Brown. You met her daughter.
The woman whose daughter you met is Mrs Brown.
When the antecedent is Non-personal you may avoid the use of “whose” by using the of-phrase “OF WHICH”. This is usually perceived as very formal.
The house has been repaired. Its roof was damaged.
The house the roof of which was damaged has been repaired.

When – Where - Why
An adjective/relative clause may be introduced by the words where , when & why; thus conveying adverbial meaning.
These words have the following meaning (Defining relative clauses)
Examples
That is the place where (at which) McBeth met the witches.
I remember the day when (on which) she first wore that blue dress.
I know the reason why (for which -o.f.) she looked so sad.
Examples (Non-defining relative clauses)
We will put it off until next week, when the weather may be better.
When : at which, in which; on which Where: at which, in which; on which Why : for which

But as relative
But .- A noun in a negative sentence is sometimes qualified by a relative / adjective clause introduced by “ but ”. (This use is very formal and perceived as a little old fashioned)
Examples:
There’s not a man here but would like to be in your place.
There was not a single backbencher there but thought you were in the right.
Where but would like = who would not like but thought = who did not think

Exercises
Combine the following pairs of sentences by using relative forms
This house is very modern. It has a television set and an electric washing machine.
That man seems to be very lonely. His wife and children must be away.
He is a reliable guy. I can trust him with anything.
The boy was very surprised. We gave him a big hug.
Today’s lecturer was very interesting. He came from Oxford.
John really disliked Paul. John was coerced into backing Paul up.
The trees of Downing St have been cut down. They were very old.
The trees of Downing St have been cut down. Some trees were very old and were cut down.
Our dog is ten years old. He is a great favourite with the family.
Paul loves his family. Nobody loves Paul.
Key

Exercises - Key
This house is very modern. It has a television set and an electric washing machine. The house, which has a television set and an electric washing machine, is very modern.
That man seems to be very lonely. His wife and children must be away. That man, whose wife and children must be away, seems to be very lonely.
He is a reliable guy. I can trust him with anything. He is a guy who(m) / Ø you can trust with anything.
The boy was very surprised. We gave that boy a big hug. The boy who(m)/ Ø we gave a big hug was very surprised.
Today’s lecturer was very interesting. He came from Oxford. Today’s lecturer , who came from Oxford, was very interesting.
John really disliked Paul. John was coerced into backing Paul up. John, who really disliked Paul , was coerced into backing him up.
The trees of Downing St have been cut down. They were very old. The trees of Downing St, which were very old, have been cut down. (All the trees were old & all the trees were cut down)
The trees of Downing St have been cut down. (Some trees were very old and were cut down) The trees of Downing St which were very old have been cut down. (Only the old trees were cut down)
Our dog is ten years old. He is a great favourite with the family. Our dog, who/which is a great favourite with the family, is ten years old.
Paul loves his cat. Nobody loves Paul.
Paul, who(m) nobody loves, loves his cat.

Cleft Sentences
One way for a writer to single out an element of a sentence for special focus is the cleft sentences. In the tradtional it- cleft sentence, the noun-phrase to be stressed is placed after an it- subject and a form of be , while the rest of the sentence is placed in a relative clause. If we start with a sentence like sentence (1) below, we can put even more stress on the subject by using an it- cleft like sentence (2). Sentence (3) uses an it- cleft to stress an object noun phrase, and sentence (4) applies that- DELETION to sentence (3):
(1) George wanted to sell my old tennis shoes.
(2) It was George who/that wanted to sell my old tennis shoes.
(3) It was my old tennis shoes that George wanted to sell.
(4) It was my old tennis shoes George wanted to sell.
One can also use an it- cleft to highlight a recipient or an adverbial. In such cases, it may be a prepositional phrase, an infinitive phrase, or even a subordinate clause that is singled out, as in the following cleft sentences:
(5) It was to Martha that George wanted to sell my old tennis shoes.
(6) It was to raise money for charity that George wanted to sell my old tennis shoes (7) It was when he ran out of coffee money that George decided to sell my old tennis shoes.

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Relative Pronouns & Adjective Clauses

by augenthaler on Mar 15, 2007

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Relative Pronouns & Adjective Clauses — Presentation Transcript