Download Reductions of Relative Clauses

Reductions of Relative (or Adjective) Clauses
Himes ESL24 Material adapted from Systems of English Grammar, Master
Restrictive (or defining) clauses
1. Relative pronouns as subjects:
A. You may delete the relative pronoun and the BE verb if they are followed by
the past or present participles (–ed or –ing verb forms).
The money which was stolen from the bank was never recovered.
The cat that has been hanging around my house belongs to a neighbor.
B. They may also be deleted if followed by a preposition.
The car that was on the side of the road had a flat tire.
C. Be verbs may not be deleted when followed by an adjective or a verb other
than BE.
Women who are beautiful are often unhappy.
Men who work long hours may have trouble finding somebody to marry.
2. Relative pronouns as objects:
A. The relative pronoun may be deleted.
The man whom I met is a doctor.
Avoid food supplements that research has not been done on.
B. You may never delete whose or a pronoun following a fronted preposition.
The man whose leg was broken was taken for X-rays.
Avoid food supplements in which research has not been done.
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Non-restrictive (or non-defining) clauses
3. Relative pronouns as the subject:
A. As in restrictive clauses, the relative pronoun and the BE verb may be deleted
if they are followed by the past or present participles (–ed or –ing verb forms).
Sylvia, who was married at eighteen, was still happy with her husband
forty-five years later.
Sergeant Crow, who was standing by the door, had seen no one enter the
house.
B. Similarly, the pronoun and the verb may be deleted if followed by a
preposition.
The king, who was under pressure from his government, allowed tourists
to enter his palace.
C. Unlike restrictive clauses, the pronoun and the verb may be deleted if the BE
verb is present and it is followed by a predicate noun phrase. This type of
reduction is known as an appositive. (A predicate is another word for verb
phrase and it includes the verb and everything that comes after it in a simple
sentence.)
Berlin, which is the new capital of Germany, is 1078 miles from Istanbul.
4. Relative pronouns as objects may not be deleted in non-restrictive clauses.
Sarah’s radio, which I dropped, only plays one station now.
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