RELATIVE CLAUSES DEFINING AND NON-DEFINING
RELATIVE PRONOUNS
PEOPLE: WHO, THAT (AS SUBJECT)
PEOPLE: WHOM, WHO, THAT (AS OBJECT)
I like flowers which/that smell nice I like the flowers (which/that) you brought to me yesterday
POSSESSIVE: WHOSE
The person (whom/who/that) you saw in the park is my sister.
THINGS: WHICH, THAT
Christopher Columbus was the person who/that discovered America
That is the man whose wife interviewed the Queen.
PLACE: WHERE
London is the city where you can see the Big Ben.
DEFINING CLAUSES I
They define the place, the person, the object the speaker refers to. They can be subject or object in the sentence.
S: The person who makes bread is called a baker S: That’s the woman whose house was set on fire yesterday O: The people (whom) we met at the party come from Finland O: The book (which) you’ve written will be successful. O: The family whose dog you found in the garden want to thank you.
S= subject; O=Object
DEFINING CLAUSES II
ASPECTS TO HAVE INTO ACCOUNT: There are no commas that separate the relative clause from the rest of the sentence The relative pronoun can be taken out when it functions as the object (direct or indirect) or complement of the relative sentence
The people you came back with were very friendly. The knife we carve the turkey with belonged to my aunt.
‘That’ can substitute ‘who/which’ ‘Whom’ is used in formal written english ‘What’ can be used instead of a whole sentence :
She did what she could
NON-DEFINING CLAUSES I
They give additional information that could be omitted without affecting the meaning of the main sentence
William Shakespeare, who died in 1616, wrote very famous plays. My new bike, which I bought last week, is fantastic Sally was born in Brighton, where she works for a publishing company.
NON-DEFINING CLAUSES II
ASPECTS TO HAVE INTO ACCOUNT Relative pronouns can never be omitted ‘Who’ or ‘which’ can never be substituted by ‘that’ ‘Which’ can be used instead of a whole sentence She passed all her exams in June, which surprised me a lot.
OTHER ASPECTS
We can use an infinitive after the first, the second, … the last, the only instead of a relative clause
We were the first people to arrive. We were the first people who arrived. Arthur was the only student to answer the question. Arthur was the only student who answered the question.
We use the expression it is/was to put emphasis on the subject
It is my father who helps me do my homework. It was that policeman who rescued the children.