2. USE OF RELATIVE CLAUSES
- I saw Michael yesterday.
- Michael? The man who works with Tom ?
- No, that is John. Michael is the man who works in “The Swan ”, the pub
that is round the corner .
- Oh, that Michael…
These relative clauses identify which person or thing we are talking
about.
Sometimes we can use an ADJECTIVE or phrase to identify someone or
something (the beautiful dress, the shop on the corner). But when we
need a longer explanation, we can use a RELATIVE CLAUSE: the man
who works with Tom
3. RELATIVE PRONOUNS
WHO and WHICH go after the noun and at the beginning of the
RELATIVE CLAUSE.
WHO refers to people: Mrs Smith is the woman who bought
the house
WHICH refers to things (…): There are several restaurants
which open on Sundays
WARNING!!
We DO NOT use another pronoun with the RELATIVE
PRONOUN: … the woman who she bought…
We can use THAT instead of WHO or WHICH: … the woman
that bought…, restaurants that open…
4. WHO, WHICH and THAT as
Subject and Object
In Mrs Smith is the woman who bought the house and There are
several restaurants which open on Sundays, WHO and WHICH
are the SUBJECT of the RELATIVE CLAUSE.
But the pronoun can also be the OBJECT of the clause:
-The man who you met yesterday is my fiancé (you met the
man)
-Are these the groceries which you bought? (you bought the
groceries)
We do not use another pronoun (e.g. him) with the RELATIVE
PRONOUN: The man who you met him…
5. LEAVING OUT THE RELATIVE
PRONOUN
We can leave out the pronoun when it is the OBJECT
The man you met yesterday is my fiancé
Are these the groceries you bought?
We can also leave out WHO, WHICH, THAT when
they are the OBJECT of a PREPOSITION
The man you spoke to yesterday is my fiancé
We DO NOT leave out a RELATIVE PRONOUN when it is the
SUBJECT of the clause.
6. MORE RELATIVE PRONOUNS
WHOSE, to express possession for people, animals and things:
Have you seen the boy whose mother was on TV?
WHOM, object pronoun for people in non-defining RELATIVE
CLAUSES. Also for PREPOSITION + WHO:
I was invited by the manager whom I met at the party
I have two cousins, none of whom are boys
WHICH (the tricky side…), referring to the whole sentence:
He can’t say a word, which didn’t surprise me
WHAT (without a noun in front of it), meaning THE THING(S):
The shop didn’t have what we wanted
7. RELATIVE ADVERBS
They can be used instead a RELATIVE PRONOUN +
PREPOSITION: This is the shop in which I bought my
bike / This is the shop where I bought my bike.
Relative Meaning Use Example
Adverb
WHEN In/on which Refers to a time The year when
expression we met…
WHERE In/at which Refers to a place This is the café
where I fist met
him
WHY For which Refers to a I was wondering
reason why you were
looking at me
8. PREPOSITIONS
Prepositions at the end
A relative pronoun can be the object of a preposition
The restaurant which we normally go to is there
I found the letter that I was looking for
These are the people that we went on holiday with last year
In informal spoken English we normally put the preposition
at the end of the RELATIVE CLAUSE
We go to a restaurant – The restaurant we go to
We often leave out the RELATIVE PRONOUN
The restaurant we normally go to is there
We DO NOT use a pronoun after the preposition
The restaurant we normally go to it is there
9. PREPOSITIONS II
Prepositions at the beginning
In formal English the preposition can come at the beginning
of the RELATIVE CLAUSE, before WHICH and WHOM
Was that the restaurant to which you normally go?
Tom is the person from whom I learned everything
We cannot put a preposition before THAT or WHO
Electronics is a subject I know little about, NOT
… a subject about that I know little
10. TYPES OF RELATIVE CLAUSES
RELATIVE CLAUSES have different uses:
This clause identifies which actress the speaker means (Defining
or Identifying clause)
-Mariví Bilbao has died.
-Who?
-You know, the actress who played the gossip neighbour in “LQSA”
This clause adds information about a known actress (Non-
Defining or Adding clause)
EL PAIS
The actress Mariví Bilbao, who played the gossip neighbour in
“LQSA”, has died today in Bilbao
11. DEFINING – IDENTIFYING
RELATIVE CLAUSES
The woman who stopped the robber was shot
The river which flows through the town is flooding
The picture which was stolen is worth million euros
These clauses identify which woman, river or picture we
mean. Without the relative clause the sentence meaning
would be incomplete.
These clauses do not have commas round them.
Most RELATIVE CLAUSES are Defining. We use them both
in speech and writing.
12. NON-DEFINING / ADDING
RELATIVE CLAUSES
Sandra Jones, who stopped the robber, was shot
The river Tajo, which flows through the town, is flooding
The famous picture, which was stolen, is worth million euros
These clauses add extra information to something already
identified. We can say the sentences on their own without the
RELATIVE CLAUSE.
These clauses have commas (or brackets or dashes) round them.
Non-defining relative clauses can be rather formal. We use them
mainly in writing. They are common in news reports.
13. BE CAREFUL…
THAT is NEVER used as RELATIVE PRONOUN in NON-
DEFINING RELATIVE CLAUSES
Andrew, who served us, is the owner of the bar
Andrew, that served…
We cannot leave out the pronoun
That book, which I was reading, was very good
A preposition can go before the pronoun or at the end of
the clause
Mr Smith, for whom she works, is a very intelligent man
Mr Smith, who she works for, is a very intelligent man
14. REDUCED RELATIVE CLAUSES
When a Defining Relative Clause has an ACTIVE
PARTICIPLE (-ing) or PASSIVE PARTICIPLE (called, bought),
we can leave out the PRONOUN (WHO, WHICH, THAT
and the AUXILIARY)
Everyone (who is) living in the area complains about the noise
The first novel (which was) written by Doris Lessing is “The Grass is
singing”
We use TO-INFINITIVE after FIRST, SECOND,…, NEXT,
LAST, ONLY, SUPERLATIVES…
New Zealand was the first country to give women the vote
= the first country which gave women the vote
