Relative Clauses

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RELATIVECLAUSES
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RELATIVE CLAUSES

• Relative clauses describe and provide information
  about something or someone that we have usually
  already specified.
• I like working with students who appreciate what
  I do.
• We use relative clauses in order to identify
  things or people and to distinguish them from
  other similar things.
• Mancunians arent people who live in Manchester,
  theyre people who were born there

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USE

• We use relative clauses to give additional
  information about something without starting
  another sentence.
• By combining sentences with a relative clause,
  your text becomes more fluent and you can avoid
  repeating certain words.

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1. Subject and Object Relative clauses give
extra information about a noun in the
main clause. They can refer to this as subject or
object. Thats the woman who bought
my car Thats the flat that I was looking
for2. Combining sentences Note how
sentences are combined. Subject
This is Sofia. She bought my car Sofia
is the person who bought my car Object
That is the flat. I was looking for it
That is the flat that I was looking for

RELATIVE CLAUSES
Subject
Object
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How to Form Relative Clauses

• Imagine, a girl is talking to Tom.
• You want to know who she is and ask a friend
  whether he knows her.
• gtgtYou could say

A girl is talking to Tom. Do you know the girl?
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A girl is talking to Tom. Do you know the girl?
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• That sounds rather complicated, doesn't it?
• gtgt It would be easier with a relative clause you
  put both pieces of information into one sentence.
  Start with the most important thing   you want
  to know who the girl is.

Do you know the girl 
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Do you know the girl.?
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• As your friend cannot know which girl you are
  talking about, you need to put in the additional
  information   the girl is talking to Tom.
• gtUse the girl only in the first part of the
  sentence,
• gt in the second part replace it with the relative
  pronoun (for people, use the relative pronoun
  who).

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So the final sentence is
Do you know the girl who is talking to Tom?
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Do you know the girl who is talking to Tom ?
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Where do they come in sentences?

• They usually come immediately after what they
  qualify
• People who know different foreign languages make
  better language teachers.
• When the relative pronoun is the subject of the
  relative clause the word order is
  subjectverbobject
• He showed me the rocks which he had collected.
• When the relative pronoun is the object the word
  order is objectsubjectverb
• The bus came at last, which was an enormous
  relief.

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TYPES

• Defining relative clauses give important
  information to identify the person or thing we
  are talking about. We dont use a comma.
• People who live in glass houses shouldnt throw
  stones.
• Non-defining relative clauses give additional
  information about the person or thing we are
  talking about. We use a comma.
• Prof. Johnson, who I have long admired, is coming
  to visit us next week.

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DEFINING CLAUSES

• The relative pronoun can be omitted (ø) when it
  is the object of the clause
• The mouse that the elephant loved was very
  beautiful.OR
• The mouse the elephant loved was very beautiful.
• Both of these sentences are correct, though the
  second one is more common in spoken English.

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RELATIVE PRONOUNS IN DEFINING CLAUSES
subject object
people who / that whom / that /ø
things which / that which / that / ø
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WHO

• subject or object pronoun for people
• Subject I told you about the woman who lives
  next door.
• Object (Pronoun Omission)
• Mary is the girl (who/whom) we met at the party.

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WHICH

• subject or object pronoun for animals and things
• Subject Do you see the cat which is lying on the
  roof?
• Object (Pronoun Omission) Have you seen the
  book (which ) I put on this table?

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THAT

• subject or object pronoun for people, animals and
  things in defining relative clauses (who or which
  are also possible)
• Subject I dont like the table that /which
  stands in the kitchen.
• Object (Pronoun Omission)This is the sweater
  (that/ which) I bought on Saturday.

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WHOSE

• possession for people animals and things. WHOSE
  cannot be omitted.
• Do you know the girl whose mother is a nurse?

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WHOM

• object pronoun for people BUT in defining
  relative clauses we colloquially prefer who)
• Pronoun omission I was invited by the professor
  (whom /who/that) I met at the conference.

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RELATIVE PRONOUNS ADVERBS IN DEFINING
  Person Thing Place Time Reason
Subject who/that which/that
Object who/whom/that/ø which/that/ø where when why
Possessive whose whose      
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WHEN

• Meaning in/on which
• Use refers to a time expression
• (Pronoun omission) Is there a time (when) we can
  meet?

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WHERE

• Meaning in/at which
• Use refers to place
• (Pronoun omission ) preposition
• The hotel where we stay was very small.
• The hotel we stay at was very small

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NON- DEFINING

• Non-defining clauses add extra information,
  separated by commas in writing, and intonation in
  speaking.
• Toms mother, who is 78, goes swimming every
  day

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Non-defining pronouns adverbs CANNOT be
OMITTED
  Person Thing Place Time
Subject who which
Object who/whom Which where when
Possessive whose whose    
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NON-DEFINING EXAMPLES

• WHO Last weekend I met Sue, who told me she was
  going on holiday soo.
• WHOM/ WHO (as object) Sarah Ros, whom /who you
  met in Madrid last week, will be at the party.
• WHICH Sues house, which is in the centre of the
  town, is over 1oo years old.
• WHOSE Tina Harris, whose brother is the actor
  Paul Harris, is a good friend of mine.
• WHERE We visited a town called Christchurch,
  where we had lunch in an Italian restaurant.
• WHEN We are going on holiday in September, when
  the weather isnt so hot

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Prepositions relative pronouns

• In formal style we usually put a preposition
  before the relative pronoun and we use whom
  instead of who.
• The office to which Graham took us was filled
  with books
• In less formal style we usually put the
  preposition at the end of the relative clause.
• The office that Graham took us to was filled with
  books

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