2. RELATIVE CLAUSES
What information do you need to fully
understand these sentences in its context?
The map is lost.
The book is not here.
You must do the exercise.
*I want to go to the place.
Williams wants to listen to the song again.
*I remember the time.
*I saw the person again.
3. RELATIVE CLAUSES
What information do you need to fully
understand these sentences in its context?
The map which you gave me is lost.
The book is not here.
You must do the exercise.
*I want to go to the place.
Williams wants to listen to the song again.
*I remember the time.
*I saw the person again.
4. RELATIVE CLAUSES
What information do you need to fully
understand these sentences in its context?
The map which you gave me is lost.
The book I need is not here.
You must do the exercise.
*I want to go to the place.
Williams wants to listen to the song again.
*I remember the time.
*I saw the person again.
5. RELATIVE CLAUSES
What information do you need to fully
understand these sentences in its context?
The map which you gave me is lost.
The book I need is not here.
You must do the exercise that he told you.
*I want to go to the place.
Williams wants to listen to the song again.
*I remember the time.
*I saw the person again.
6. RELATIVE CLAUSES
What information do you need to fully
understand these sentences in its context?
The map which you gave me is lost.
The book I need is not here.
You must do the exercise that he told you.
I want to go to the place where I was born.
Williams wants to listen to the song again.
*I remember the time.
*I saw the person again.
7. RELATIVE CLAUSES
What information do you need to fully
understand these sentences in its context?
The map which you gave me is lost.
The book I need is not here.
You must do the exercise that he told you.
I want to go to the place where I was born.
Williams wants to listen to the song we
played again.
*I remember the time.
*I saw the person again.
8. RELATIVE CLAUSES
What information do you need to fully
understand these sentences in its context?
The map which you gave me is lost.
The book I need is not here.
You must do the exercise that he told you.
I want to go to the place where I was born.
Williams wants to listen to the song we
played again.
I remember the time I spent with you.
*I saw the person again.
9. RELATIVE CLAUSES
What information do you need to fully
understand these sentences in its context?
The map which you gave me is lost.
The book I need is not here.
You must do the exercise that he told you.
I want to go to the place where I was born.
Williams wants to listen to the song we
played again.
I remember the time I spent with you.
I saw the person we met yesterday again.
10. RELATIVE CLAUSES
The phrases in blue are called relative
clauses.
They are usually introduced by words called
relative pronouns.
The main relative pronouns are:
11. RELATIVE CLAUSES
Who
Which That
Whose
Whom 'Who' refers to people (quien/es, el cual, la cual, los cuales...)
'Which' refers to non-animated things (que, el cual, la cual...)
Where 'That' can take the place of 'who' or 'which'
'Whom' refers to people and functions as an object
When 'Whose' has a possessive meaning (cuyo, cuya, cuyos,
cuyas).
'Where' expresses 'the place in which'
'When' means 'the moment in which'
Some
examples
12. RELATIVE CLAUSES
● The science exam which/that I passed was
extremely hard.
● The car which/that crashed into the shop
window was driven by a 12-year-old boy.
● The policewoman who/that saw me drinking
whiskey is my mum's friend. I'm so
ashamed!
● Stratford-upon-Avon is the town where/in
which William Shakespeare was born.
13. RELATIVE CLAUSES
As you may have noticed, the information given
by the relative clause is necessary to fully
understand the sentences. Some of them
would be incorrect without the clause. So, we
may say that the relative clause is necessary.
There is no change in the intonation of the
relative clause in the previous examples.
But let's see the same examples with a few
changes:
14. RELATIVE CLAUSES
● The science exam, which I passed, was
extremely hard.
● The car, which was like mine, was driven by
a 12-year-old boy.
● Mr Freeman, who lives next door, is my
mum's friend.
● Oslo, which is the capital of Norway, is a
lovely city.
● Picadilly Circus, where a lot of young people
gathered, became a hot spot in the 60s.
15. RELATIVE CLAUSES
The relative clauses between commas are
pronounced with a change of intonation.
They are not an essential part of the
information, but a comment added to the main
sentence.
So, if we elide them, the sentences are still full,
correct sentences.
Some
examples
16. RELATIVE CLAUSES
The science exam was extremely hard;
The car was driven by a 12-year-old boy;
Mr Freeman is my mum's friend;
Oslo is a lovely city and
Picadilly Circus became a hot spot in the 60s
18. RELATIVE CLAUSES
Relatives and prepositions
The most frequent model of relative with
preposition places the preposition at the end
of the sentence.
In this case, the relative pronouns chosen
must be which or who.
● The world which you dream of does not
exist, darling.
● The girl who you are looking at is my sister.
