Download Lola Oliva Asencio Gabriela Torres Silva B1 IC RELATIVE

Lola Oliva Asencio
Gabriela Torres Silva
B1 IC
RELATIVE CLAUSES
Introduction
Relative clauses are used to join two sentences or to give more information about
something mentioned in a sentence without starting another sentence.This way,
texts are going to be more fluent, dynamic, and will have extra information.
In Spanish, we name relative clauses as oración subordinada adjetiva de relativo
and we subdivide them in especificativas and explicativas, whereas in English we
separate them in Defining and Non-Defining relative clauses.
An example of the use of a relative clause would be:
-
I bought a new book. It is very interesting. → I bought a new book that is very
interesting.
Introducing relative clauses
To introduce relative clauses we use relative pronouns and relative adverbs.
These refer to something named antecedent. In the previous example, that is
referred to a new book, that means that a new book is the antecedent of the relative
pronoun.
Relative pronouns
The most common are who, whom, whose, which and that.
Who → we use it in defining and non-defining relative clauses to refer to people, and
sometimes to pet animals.
Who can act as the subject or the object of the relative clause, for example:
● She is going out with a man who is in the army. (who refers to a man and is
the subject of is in the relative clause)
● The woman who I saw yesterday was Sheila. (who refers to the woman and
is the object of saw in the relative clause)
We can also use who as the complement of a preposition, for example:
● It was Cath who Ian gave the keys to. (who refers to Cath and is the
complement of the preposition to)
- We have to put the preposition at the end of the relative clause, and not
immediately before who.
Whom → we use whom to refer to people in formal styles or in writing when the
person is the object of the verb. It is used in both types of relative clauses.
Lola Oliva Asencio
Gabriela Torres Silva
B1 IC
● The response of those managers whom I have consulted has been very
positive and we are looking forward to meeting together. (whom refers to
those managers and is the object of consulted in the relative clause)
But the most common use of whom is as the complement of a preposition:
● There was only one person to whom the old man spoke. (whom refers to one
person and is the complement of the preposition to)
Whose → we usually use whose as a relative pronoun to indicate possession by
people and animals. It expresses that the thing mentioned in the relative clause
belongs to the antecedent. In more formal styles, we can also use it for things.
Whose can be used before nouns instead of a possessive expression in defining and
non-defining clauses:
● He’s marrying a girl whose family don’t seem to like him. (The family of the
girl he’s marrying don’t seem to like him.)
● There was me and there was Kate, whose party it was, and then there were
two other people. (It was Kate’s party.)
We can also use whose + noun as the complement of a preposition:
➔ We can put the preposition immediately before the relative pronoun (more
formal written styles):
◆ Thomas Goldney III, in whose house several generations of students
have now lived, was described in the late 18th century as ‘a very
curious gentleman’.
➔ We can put the preposition at the end of the relative clause (more informal):
◆ Thomas Goldney III, whose house several generations students have
now lived in, was described in the late 18th century as ‘a very curious
gentleman’.
Which → we use which in relative clauses to refer to animals and things when they
refer to a whole sentence or clause.
Which can act as the subject or the object of the relative clause:
● The new sports complex, which will be built on the site of the old power
station, will provide facilities for cricket and badminton. (Which refers to the
new sports complex and is the subject of will be built in the relative clause)
● It was the same picture which I saw at the National Gallery. (Which refers to
the same picture and is the object of saw in the relative clause)
Which can act as the complement of a preposition:
Lola Oliva Asencio
Gabriela Torres Silva
B1 IC
➔ We can put the preposition immediately before the relative pronoun (more
formal):
◆ The title of the poem indicates that the poet knows himself to be
separated from the community in which he grew up.
➔ Or at the end of the relative clause (more informal).
◆ I’ve never felt close to the community which I grew up in.
Also relative clauses referring to a whole sentence are introduced by which, for
example:
● There’s going to be a new headteacher in September, which is good.
That → we use that instead of who, whom or which only to introduce defining relative
clauses to refer to people, animals and things. It is more informal than who, whom
or which.
That can act as the subject or the object of the relative clause:
● Don’t take money that doesn’t belong to you. (that refers to money and is the
subject of belong in the relative clause)
● It’s the same cooker that my mother has. (that refers to the same cooker and
is the object of has in the relative clause)
We can put it after superlatives:
● The last Champions’ final was the best match that I’ve ever seen.
With that we can refer to the complement of a preposition:
● We’ve got some tennis balls that you can play with. (That refers to some
tennis balls and is the complement of the preposition with)
No relative pronoun → in informal styles, we often leave out the relative pronoun
but we only can do this in defining relative clauses and when the relative pronoun is
the object of the verb. For example:
●
She’s the singer who I heard on the radio → She’s the singer I heard on the
radio.
We can also leave out the relative pronoun when it is the complement of a
preposition:
● She was at the party which I was telling you about → She was at the party I
was telling you about.
Lola Oliva Asencio
Gabriela Torres Silva
B1 IC
Relative adverbs
Relative adverbs used in relative clauses are where, when and why.
Where → it is used after nouns that refer to places (defining and non-defining
relative clauses):
● I flew to Munich, where I had to catch another plane to Oslo. (non-defining)
When → it is used after nouns that refer to times and dates (both types of relative
clauses. In defining clauses, it can be replaced by “that”):
● The most stressful day of the week is Monday, when people go back to
work.
Why → it is used after a reason (only used in defining relative clauses. It can be
replaced by “that”):
● The reason why I didn't call you is that I've lost your phone number.
Defining relative clauses
Defining relative clauses, also known as restrictive relative clauses or identifying
relative clauses, identify a noun more clearly. They make clear which person or thing
we are talking about. If a defining relative clause is removed, the meaning of the
sentence changes significantly. They are often used in definitions. A defining relative
clause is not separated from the rest of the sentence by commas or parentheses.
For example:
If you have two notebooks on the table and you ask someone for one of them, you
would not say “Give me the notebook” as there are two equal notebooks.
It would be better to say “Give me the notebook that is on the right”, in this case, we
add useful information about the notebook, this makes identifying the notebook that
you want easier.
A defining relative clause usually comes immediately after the noun it describes,
that would be the antecedent.
Non-defining relative clauses
Non-defining relative clauses, also known as non-restrictive relative clauses, give us
more non-essential information about a noun. They do not define or identify a noun,
they give us extra information that is not necessary. If we remove the non-defining
relative clause from the sentence, it would still be grammatically correct and the
meaning would not have changed significantly as the necessary meaning still
remains. However, the sentence would have less details. They are separated from
Lola Oliva Asencio
Gabriela Torres Silva
B1 IC
the rest of the sentence by commas. This kind of relative clauses are very common
in written English.
An example of a non-defining relative clause is:
“Elephants, which are the largest land mammals, live in herds of 10 or more adults.”
As it is said before, we could remove the relative clause and the sentence would still
have complete sense. “Elephants live in herds of 10 or more adults”. This sentence
is also correct, but it has not got the detail of the other one with the non-defining
relative clause.
Defining or non-defining?
Sometimes defining and non-defining relative clauses can look very similar but they
have not the same meaning.
The main difference between them is the information they give. This can help us to
distinguish them. If the relative clause give essential information and we can not
remove it from the sentence, then it is a defining relative clause. Conversely, if we
can remove the relative clause, then it is a non-defining relative clause.
Knowing all these things we can compare these two groups of relative clauses:
Defining relative clause
“We will raise money for charities in
town that help people with any
disease.”
Here we are saying that we will raise
money for local charities that have
those characteristics. We will give the
money to charities that help people
with some illness but not every charity.
“We will raise money for charities in
town, which help people with any
disease”
Here it is different, we say that we will
raise money for any local charities but
we give the detail that al local charities
are charities for ill people.
Non-defining relative clause
Conclusion
In general, relative clauses are useful and good because they allow us to write
longer and more complex sentences. We will make our English more dynamic and
fluent. This way we can improve our style at the time we talk in English.
Lola Oliva Asencio
Gabriela Torres Silva
B1 IC
Sources
● http://www.chompchomp.com/terms/antecedent.htm
● https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_B8BRYoJJ6M
● http://dictionary.cambridge.org/es/gramatica/gramaticabritanica/pronouns/relative-pronouns
● https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kW8J-f2tx4w&t=12s
● https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mTwQz1e0Fgs&t=209s
● http://www.grammaring.com/relative-adverbs-where-when-why
● http://www.ef.com.es/recursos-aprender-ingles/gramatica-inglesa/oracionesrelativo/
● http://www.ef.com.es/recursos-aprender-ingles/gramatica-inglesa/oracionesrelativo-especificativas/