Relative clauses

RELATIVE PRONOUNS

The relative pronouns are:

·       who – used for people;

·       which – used for things or animals;

·       that – used for either people or things;

·       whose – a possessive relative pronoun for people and sometimes for things or animals. Instead of saying “The book, whose cover was missing, was found in my grandparents’ house” we often say “The book, the cover of which was missing,…”.

The relative adverbs are:

·       where – referring to places;

·       when – referring to time.

RELATIVE CLAUSES

1. DEFINING RELATIVE CLAUSES

Defining relative clauses identify the person or thing we are talking about.

Telecommuting is just the start of a progress that will see many people holding down jobs without ever actually going into work.

Notes

·       That often replaces who or which (example above)

·       We do not use a comma before the relative pronoun.

·       We can omit the relative pronoun when it is the object of the clause.

·       Whom is very formal and mainly used in written English.

2. NON-DEFINING RELATIVE CLAUSES

Non-defining relative clauses give extra information about the person or thing and are not essential to the meaning of the sentence.

Jill, who has got two children, has decided to telecommute.

Notes

·       We cannot use the pronoun that or omit the relative pronoun.

·       We always put a comma before the relative pronoun.

3. SPECIAL TYPE OF NON-DEFINING RELATIVE CLAUSE

Fred left school, which surprised everyone.

In this sentence which refers to the complete clause and a comma is always used.

4.  PARTICIPLE CLAUSES (OR REDUCED RELATIVE CLAUSES)

Nowadays there are a few people working (= who work) form home. (present participle)

Many workers, worried (= who were worried) about their safety at work, went on strike. (past participle)

5. PREPOSITIONS IN RELATIVE CLAUSES

In relative clauses we normally put the preposition at the end of the clause.

That’s the man (who/that) he was speaking to)

In formal English, we can put the preposition before the relative pronoun.

That’s the man to whom he was speaking to.