Inglés sin barreras: relative

jeudi 14 août 2014

Top Tips Grammar: Defining relative clauses

Main points

+ You use defining relative clauses to say exactly which person or thing you are talking about.
+ Defining relative clauses are usually introduced by a relative pronoun such as ‘that’, ‘which’, ‘whom’, or ‘whose’.
+ A defining relative clause comes immediately after noun, and needs a main clause to make a complete sentence.

a) You use defining relative clauses to give information that helps to identify the person or thing you are talking about.

- The man who you met yesterday was my brother.
- The car which crashed into me belonged to Paul.

When you are talking about people, you use ‘that’ or ‘who’ in the relative clause.

- He was the man that bought my house.
- You are the only person here who knows me.

When you are talking about things, you use ‘that’ or ‘which’ in the relative clause.

- There was ice cream that Mum had made herself.
- I will tell you the first thing which I can remember.

b) ‘That’, ‘who’, or ‘which’ can be:
*the subject of the verb in the relative clause.

- The thing that really surprised me was his attitude.
- The woman who lives next door is very friendly.
- The car which caused the accident drove off.

*the object of the verb in the relative clause.

- The thing that I really liked about it was its size.
- The woman who you met yesterday lives next door.
- The car which I wanted to buy was not for sale.

In formal English, ‘whom’ is used instead of ‘who’ as the object of the verb in the relative clause.

- She was a woman whom I greatly resected.

c) You can leave out ‘that’, ‘who’, or ‘which’ when they are the object of the verb in the relative clause.

- The woman you met yesterday lives next door.
- The car I wanted to buy was not for sale.
- The thing I really liked about it was its size.

Remember that you cannot leave out ‘that’, ‘who’, or ‘which’ when they are the subject of the verb in the relative clause. For example, you say

‘The woman who lives next door is very friendly’.

You don’t say

‘~~The woman lives next door is very friendly’.~~

d) A relative pronoun in a relative clause can be the object of a preposition. Usually the preposition goes at the end of the clause.

- I wanted to do the job which I’d been training for.
- The house that we lived in was huge.

You can often omit a relative pronoun that is the object of a preposition.

- Angela was the only person I could talk to.
- She’s the girl I sang the song for.

The preposition always goes in front of ‘whom’, and in front of ‘which’ in formal English.

- These are the people to whom Catherine was referring.
- He was asking questions to which there were no answers.

e) You use ‘whose’ in relative clauses to indicate who something belongs to or relates to. You normally use ‘whose’ for people, not for things.

- A child whose mother had left him was crying loudly.
- We have only told the people whose work is relevant to this project.

f) You can use ‘when’, ‘where’, and ‘why’ in defining relative clauses after certain nouns. You use ‘when’ after ‘time’ or time words such as ‘day’ or ‘year’. You use ‘where’ after ‘place’ or place words such as ‘room’ or ‘street’. You use ‘why’ after ‘reason’.

- There had been a time when she hated all men.
- This is the year when profits should increase.
- He showed me the place where they work.
- That was the room where I did my homework.
- There are several reasons why we can’t do that.

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Top Tips Abz Ingles: Part A - Part B
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See also:

Words related to Failure to Cooperate Irregular Verbs list

Common Phrasal Verbs Common Slangs

Common misspellings Regular vs Irregular Verbs

Common Errors Frequently confused words

Common Slangs Lista de Términos Gramaticales

Common Clichés Common Prepositions

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Top Tips Grammar: Non-defining clauses

Main points

*You use non-defining relative clauses to give extra information about the person or thing you are talking about.
*Non-defining relative clause must be introduced by a relative pronoun such as ‘which’, ‘who’, ‘whom’, or ‘whose’.
* A non-defining relative clause comes immediately after a noun and needs a main clause to make a complete sentence.

a) You use non-defining relative clauses to give extra information about the person or thing you are talking about. The information is not needed to identify that person or thing.

- Professor Marvin, who was always early, was there already.

‘Who was always early’ gives extra information about Professor Marvin. This is a non-defining clause. Because it is not needed to identify the person you are talking about. We already know that you are talking about Professor Marvin.
Note that in written English, a non-defining relative clause is usually separated from the main clause by a comma, or by two commas.

- I went to the cinema with Mary, who I think you met.
- British Rail, which has launched an enquiry, said one coach was badly damaged.

b) You always start a non-defining relative clause with a relative pronoun. When you are talking about people, you use ‘who’. ‘Who’ can be the subject or object of a non-defining relative clause.

- Heath Robinson, who died in 1944, was a graphic artist and cartoonist.
- I was in the same group as Janice, who I like a lot.

In formal English, ‘whom’ is sometimes used instead of ‘who’ as the object of a non-defining relative clause.

- She was engaged to a sailor, whom she had met at Dartmouth.

c) When you are talking about things, you use ‘which’ as the subject or object of a non-defining relative clause.

- I am teaching at the Selly Oak centre, which is just over the road.
- He was a man of considerable inherited wealth, which he ultimately spent on his experiments.

Remember that you don’t normally use ‘that’ in non-defining relative clauses.

d) You can also use anon-defining relative clause beginning with ‘which’ to say something about the whole situation described in a main clause.

- I never met Brando again, which was a pity.
- She was a little tense, which was understandable.
- Small computers need only small amount of power, which means that they will run on small batteries.

e) When you are talking about a group of people or things and then want to say something about only some of them, you can use one of the following expressions:

many of which	none of which	one of which	some of which
many of whom	none of whom	one of whom	some of whom

- They were all friends, many of whom had known each other for years.
- He talked about several very interesting people, some of whom he was still in contact with.

f) You can use ‘when’ and ‘where’ in non-defining relative clauses after expressions of time or place.

- This happened in 1957, when I was still a baby.
- She has just come back from a holiday in Crete, where Alex and I went last year.