the tricky parts of relative clauses

1. Relative Clauses
B1+/08 HACETTEPE YDYO
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2. COMBINED sentence; WHO
The woman is a nurse.
The women is sitting at the back of the train.
=Subjects are the same, so you can’t omit
“who/that.”
The woman who/that is sitting in the back of the

3. The table has a very hard surface. The table is on
the corner.
=Subjects are the same, so you can’t omit
“which/that.”
The table which is on the corner has a very hard
surface.
COMBINED sentence; WHICH

4. The cat is my friend’s cat.
My brother likes it much.
=there are two different Subjects, so you can omit
“which/that” if you’d like.
The cat (which / that) my brother likes much is my
friend's cat.
Which or That can be omitted;

5. COMBINED sentence; WHOSE
The woman is a friend of mine.
Her son wants to see you.
=You never omit “whose”
The woman whose son wants to see you is a
friend of mine.

6. COMBINED sentence; WHERE
The house is the most great house in the city. The
actor stays in that house.
=You never omit “where”
The house where the actor stays is the most great
house in the city.
=at/in which=where

7. COMBINED sentence: WHY
This is the reason why I left early.
I don’t know the reason why he doesn’t like me.
I don’t know the reason for which he doesn’t like me.
=The reason why=for which

8. COMBINED sentence: WHEN
There are times when joking is not permissible.
I will never forget the day when I met my wife.
=in/on which=when

9. Who/Whom or That can be omitted;
The woman is a pilot.
My mother is talking to the woman.
=there are two different Subjects, so you can
omit “who/whom/that” if you’d like.
The woman who /whom/ that my mother is
talking to is a pilot.

10. Whom with/without preposition
The teacher is our neighbour.
A dog is running after him.
The teacher after whom a dog is running is our
neighbour. (you can’t omit ‘whom’ because you have
a preposition attached.)
The teacher whom a dog is running after is our
neighbour.(you can omit ‘whom’ because it is free and
subjects are different.)

11. Who with no preposition
The teacher is our neighbour.
A dog is running after him.
Don’t say;
The teacher after who a dog is running is our
neighbour.
(when you use the preposition with defining
clause, you should use ‘whom’ not ‘who’.)
The teacher after whom a dog is running is our
neighbour.

12. Which with/without preposition
They are seeing the cat.
A dog is barking at the cat.
They are seeing the cat at which a dog is barking.
(you can’t omit ‘which’ because you have a
preposition attached.)
They are seeing the cat which a dog is barking at.
(you can omit ‘which’ because it is free and
subjects are different.)

13. That cannot be used with
prepositions.
Never say;
They are seeing the cat at that a dog is barking.
The teacher after that a dog is running is our neighbor.
But you can say;
They are seeing the cat that a dog is barking at.
The teacher that a dog is running after is our neighbor.

14. As a result;
The music which we listened to was very
good. The music that we listened to was very
good. The music to which we listened was very
good. The music we listened to was very good.
=they are all the same.

15. As a result;
He is the author I talked about. He is the author
that I talked about. He is the author whom
(who) I talked about. He is the author about
whom I talked.
=they are all the same.

16. As a result;
This is the house where I was born. (don’t say
‘where I was born in, because ‘in’ is already
there; in which=where)
This is the house which I was born in. This is the
house in which I was born. This is the house that I
was born in. This is the house I was born in. (don’t
lose ‘in’)
=they are all the same.

17. Defining clauses; no coma
=If the noun which is defined is not clear or obvious, defining clause
makes it clearer to understand. It gives necessary defining information.
The assignment (that/which) the professor gave me was easy.
defining clause
=If you just say ‘The assignment was easy’, the sentence and the
noun can’t be clear enough. Because then the people who listen
us may feel like asking ‘what assignment?’ However, when you
say ‘The assignment (that/which) the professor gave me was
easy’, it makes sense for those people, and they don’t need to ask
‘what assignment?’

18. Non-defining clauses; with coma
=You don’t need to define the words, but you aim at giving extra
information and use a coma before.
My father, who loves me very much, has made many sacrifices for my
happiness.
=My father is already known. When you say “my father”, who
you refer to is so clear that you don’t need to explain or define
more. That is, nobody is going to ask you ‘what or which father?’
So the only thing you can do is giving extra information. That is
why even if you omit the red part(non-defining clause), you still
don’t have change of structure or need for defining father.
=NO “that” with non-defining clause.

19. As a result;
They congratulated Ernest Hemingway, who had
just won the Nobel Prize.
They congratulated the writer who/that had just
won the Nobel Prize.

20. COMBINED sentence: of which, of
whom, of whose
In our company there are 75 people. Most of
them are foreigners. In our company there are
75 people, most of whom are foreigners.
My friend has four cars. One of them is a
BMW. My friend has four cars, one of which is a
BMW.

21. COMBINED sentence: of which, of
whom, of whose
• I introduced my mother to my roommates, both
of whom are basketball players.
• I have three sisters, all of whom are attending this
school.
• Here there are 24 flats, several of which are
rather well-decorated. .
• I used to have a teddy-bear, both of whose eyes
were missing.

22. Deduction
I saw the children who were playing in the garden.
I saw the children playing in the garden. (=‘who were’
can be omitted.)
Some of the people who were invited to the wedding
didn’t turn up.
Some of the people invited to the wedding didn’t turn up.
(=‘who were’ can be omitted.)

23. Connective relative clause
=“Which” doesn’t define a noun but the whole
sentence. You can only use “which” with a
coma definitely.
I didn’t eat my food. This made my mother angry. I
didn’t eat my food, which made my mother angry.
Helen married a poor boy, which surprised
everybody.

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PART.
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