Relative clauses

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Relative clauses
Relative clauses provide extra information
about nouns they modify. They have the function
of adjectives. The information can either define
something (defining clause), or provide
unnecessary, but interesting, added information
(non-defining clause).
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• Relative clauses can be introduced by
• a relative pronoun who (whom), which, that,
  whose
• no relative pronoun, Ø.
• where, why and when instead of a relative pronoun

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Defining ,identifying, definite or
restrictive clauses

• These clauses have a
• definite relative pronoun as a
• subordinating word.
• A definite relative pronoun has an antecedent.

E.g.We heard the things that they said.
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• They have three main characteristics
• In speech the intonation is the same as the noun
  they qualify.
• In spelling they are not separated by commas.
• In meaning they are essential to the meaning of
  the clause.

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You never put a comma or a dash in front of a
defining relative clause. E.g. The woman who
owns this cabin will come back in the autumn.

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Non-defining ,indefinite or non-restrictive
clauses

• A non-defining relative clause usually has a
  comma in front of it and a comma after it, unless
  it is at the end of a sentence, in which case you
  just put a full stop. Dashes are sometimes used
  instead of commas.
• e.g
• Sir Denis, who is 78, has let it be known
  that much of his collection is to be left to
  the nation.

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• They have three main characteristics
• In speech the intonation is different from the
  noun they qualify.
• In spelling they are separated by commas.
• In meaning they are not essential to the meaning
  of the clause.

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Relative clauses referring to people When a
non-defining clause relates to a person or group
of people, you use who as the subject of the
clause, or who or whom as the object of the
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. She was
engaged to a sailor, whom she had met at
Dartmouth.
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• Relative clauses referring to things
• When a non-defining clause relates to a thing or
  a group of things, you use which as the subject
  or object.
• 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.
• WARNING
• You cannot use that to begin a non-defining
  relative clause. For example, you cannot say She
  sold her car, that she had bought the year
  before. You must say She sold her car, which
  she had bought the year before.
• Non-defining clauses cannot be used without a
  relative pronoun. For example, you cannot say
• She sold her car, she had bought
  the year before.

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• whose in relative clauses
• When you want to talk about something belonging
  or relating to a person, thing, or group, you use
  a defining or non-defining relative clause
  beginning with whose and a noun.
• ...workers whose bargaining power is weak.
• According to Cook, whose book is published on
  Thursday, most disasters are avoidable.
• .

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Relative clauses with when, where, and
why When, where, and why can be used
in defining relative clauses after certain nouns.
When is used after time and other time words,
where is used after place or place words, and
why is used after reason. This is one of
those occasions when I regret not being able to
drive. That was the room where I did my
homework. There are several reasons why we cant
do that. When and where can be used in
non-defining relative clauses after expressions
of time and 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. They are used after indefinite pronouns
such as someone, anyone, and everything.
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Relative clauses can sometimes be reduced to
non-finite clauses. For example, instead of
saying Give it to the man who is wearing the
bowler hat, you can say Give it to the man
wearing the bowler hat. Similarly, instead of
saying The bride, who was smiling happily,
chatted to the guests, you can say The bride,
smiling happily, chatted to the guests.
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• Often, in a defining relative clause, the
  relative pronoun is omitted and there is a
  change of word order in the sentence the
  antecedent comes first.
• The pages she was looking at were these.
• The boy you helped was my son.
• Sometimes it is replaced by an indefinite
  pronoun.
• E.g.

Id be wary of anything Matt Davis is involved
with
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• Credits
• Designed by
• Prof.Stella Maris Berdaxagar
• Quemú Quemú
• La Pampa,Argentina
• April,2005.