RELATIVE CLAUSES

WHAT ARE RELATIVE CLAUSES?

Subordinate clauses which allow us to add information about people or things we are talking to, without a need to repeat the name

e.g. That is the house. The house was built on the main road.

That is the house which was built on the main road.

Relative clauses are introduced just after the antecedent and are introduced by a pronoun or a relative adverb.

There are two types of relative clauses: DEFINING RELATIVE CLAUSES

NON-DEFINING RELATIVE CLAUSES

DEFINING RELATIVE CLAUSES

They give essential information about their antecedent and without them, the meaning will be incompleted. That is why you write them without commas. (oraciones especificativas)

The computer which we bought is very expensive

The man who is coming will bring us the present

Relative pronouns can’t be omitted if it’s the subject of the relative clauses.

The man who visited us yesterday is an actor.The house that was so old was rebuilt.

But if it’s not the subject it can be omittedThe man (whom/that) I met at the party told me the truthThe house (which/that) we bought is very

comfortable

If the relative pronoun is followed by a verb,

then it can’t be omitted. If the relative is followed

by a subject + verb, then it’s almost sure you can

drop it

whose can’t be omitted, though it’s never a

subject

e.g. The horse whose leg you broke had to be killed

‘what’ means ‘el que’ ‘las cosas que’ and is used when the antecedent is understood

e.g. I know what you did last summer.

After prepositions you write whom for people and which for things, but it is more common to place prepositions at the end of the sentence (and it is more usual in spoken English).

e.g. This is the boy about whom you were asking meThis is the boy (who) you were asking me about.

Only who and which, you can’t use it with ‘that’

NON-DEFINING RELATIVE CLAUSES

If we remove this relative clause, there’s no problem to understand the main sentence, since it gives extra information. Thus, we write it between commas.

e.g. The European Police Force, which began working in 1999, is called Europol.

The antencedent is usually a proper name of a person or thing and it contains a possessive like ‘my’, ‘his’, ‘her’, the definite article ‘the’ or demonstratives like ‘this’, ‘that’, ‘these’ or ‘those’:

My house, which is quite comfortable, needs

redecorating.

This book, which I bought last week, is not as interesting as I thought.

MAIN FEATURES

DEFINING RELATIVE CLAUSES NON-DEFINING RELATIVE CLAUSES

- Always neccessary.- Relatives can be subject or object.- Subject relatives can’t be omitted.- Object relatives can be omitted.- «THAT» can be used with people and

things.- What can be used.

- No neccessary.- Always between commas.- ‘That’ is not allowed.- The relative pronoun can’t be omitted.- It’s less frequent than defining relative clauses. It is more formal and they are usually used in written texts.

SUMMARYDEFINING RELATIVE CLAUSES NON-DEFINING RELATIVE CLAUSE

WHO AND THAT REFER TO PEOPLEThere are many holidaymakers who / that prefer travelling in their own country

WHO REFERS TO PEOPLEIn the past some people, who were rich, used to visit battlefields.

WHICH AND THAT REFER TO OBJECTS / THINGSDark tourism is a phenomenon which / that is attracting many people

WHICH REFERS TO THINGSHe sent me flowers, which was very nice of him.

WHEN REFERS TO A MOMENT IN TIMEIt was in 1986 when the Chernobyl disaster took place.

WHEN REFERS TO A MOMENT IN TIMEI went to Italy last year, when I enjoyed a lot.

WHERE REFERS TO A PARTICULAR PLACEMany people visit places where tragedies have happened.

WHERE REFERS TO A PARTICULAR PLACEThey visited Iniesta, where they had a great time.

WHOSE REFERS TO POSSESSIONDr Barrett is a researcher whose studey of dark tourism has just been completed.

WHOSE REFERS TO POSSESSIONDalí, whose pictures are wonderful, painted this one.

EXERCISES• 1 You asked me to get a paper. Here’s the paper.

• Here’s __________________________________________________________

• 2 You recommended a film. We went to see the film but we didn’t think much of it.

• We went____________________________________________________________

• 3 My sister bought a new car last month. The car has broken down four times already.

• The car _____________________________________________________________

• 4 You didn’t recognise an actor on television last night. The actor was Kiefer Sutherland.

• The actor ___________________________________________________________

• 5 Jane had some friends at school. Only a very few of the friends went on to university.

• Only _______________________________________________________________

the paper which / that you asked me to get

to see the film which / that you recommended but we didn’t think much of it.

which / that my sister bought last month has broken down four times already.

who / that you didn’t recognise on television last night was Kiefer Sutherland.

a very few of the friends who / that Jane had at school went on to university.

• 6 My father had an operation for his heart problem. The operation was only a partial success.

• The operation ________________________________________________________

• 7 Mark wrote an essay while we were on holiday. The essay has won a prize in the school competition.

• The essay ___________________________________________________________

• 8 It was rude of you not to invite me to your wedding.

• You didn’t invite me to your wedding, ________________________________________

• 9 It was stupid of you not to tell me about it.

• You didn’t tell me about it,________________________________________________

which / that my father had for his heart problem was only a partial success.

which / that Mark wrote while were on holiday has won a prize in the school.

which was rude of you.

which was stupied of you.

THE END