１．関係代名詞の二つの役割

関係代名詞は、名詞を修飾する。修飾には２種類ある。ひとつは限定修飾、他の一つは
非限定修飾である。限定修飾は、ある名詞(先行詞)が表現する範囲を絞り込む働きをし、
定義的修飾と言い換えることができる(関係代名詞の限定用法)。
これに対し非限定修飾は 、
単に先行詞の表現するものについて説明を加えるだけで、範囲を絞り込む働きはない(関
係代名詞の非限定用法)。非限定用法においては、先行詞はすでに限定済みであるといえ
る。

２．限定用法
The purpose of a defining relative clause is to clearly define who or what we are talking about.
Without this information, it would be difficult to know who or what is meant.
The woman who lives in apartment No. 34 has been arrested.
The document that I need has 'important' written at the top.
Children who (that) play with fire are in great danger of harm.
The man who bought all the books by Hemingway has died.
That's the boy (Ø , that, who, whom) I invited to the party.
There's the house (Ø, that, which) I'd like to buy.
He's the man whose car was stolen last week.
They were sure to visit the town whose location (OR the location of which) was little known.
★ There were only a few (that) really interested him.

関係副詞
I'd like to know the reason (why) he decided not to come. (省略可)
February is the month (when) many of my colleagues take skiing holidays. (省略可)
I'm going to visit the city where I was born.
Friday was the day when we met.

She always had wanted to go to a place where she could speak her native tongue. (省略不可)

If a relative adverb introduces a noun clause, it is called an indefinite relative adverb because it
does not have an antecedent or does not refer to a particular word. In this case, the relative adverb
introduces a noun clause that replaces a noun in the sentence.

I don't know when they arrived.

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How he did it has always been an enigma.
Where he bought the computer is not important.
The reason why he came is a mystery.
We asked him why he arrived so late.
The problem was when the meeting was.

３．非限定用法
Non-defining relative clauses provide interesting additional information which is not essential to
understanding the meaning of the sentence.
The singer, whose most recent recording has had much success, is signing autographs.
The artist, whose name he could not remember, was one of the best he had ever seen.
Many of those people, most of whom enjoyed their experience, spent at least a year abroad.
Dozens of people had been invited, most of whom I knew.
The intermission, which lasts for fifteen minutes, comes halfway through the film.

Christians also believe that Jesus himself was not just a human being, able to make mistakes but
sent and guided by God.
※, able to：分詞の非限定用法を用いている理由
人間は全知全能の神と異なり間違いを犯すから。仮に限定用法にすると 、「間違いを犯
さない人間」という、一神教のもとでは認められない範疇が生じてしまう。

関係副詞
I come from the Seattle area, where many successful companies such as Microsoft and Boeing are
located, and I often go home during the summer.
He likes shopping between one and three, when most people are at home, because of the relative
calm.

Imagine, Tom is in a room with only one girl. The two are talking to each other and you ask
somebody whether he knows this girl. Here the relative clause is non-defining because in this
situation it is obvious which girl you mean.

Do you know the girl, who is talking to Tom?

1. Elephants that love mice are very unusual. (This tells us which elephants we are talking about).

2. Elephants, which are large and grey, can sometimes be found in zoos. (This gives us some
extra information about elephants - we are talking about all elephants, not just one type or group).

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a. There were a lot of people at the party, many of whom I had known for years.

b. He was carrying his belongings, many of which were broken.

5. The relative pronoun which at the beginning of a non-defining relative clause, can refer to all
the information contained in the previous part of the sentence, rather than to just one word.

a. Chris did really well in his exams, which was a big surprise. (= the fact that he did well in his
exams was a big surprise).

b. An elephant and a mouse fell in love, which is most unusual. (= the fact that they fell in love
is unusual).

a. My grandmother, who is dead now, came from the North of England.

b. I spoke to Fred, who explained the problem.
c. The elephant looked at the tree, under which she had often sat.
d. We stopped at the museum, which we’d never been into.
e. She’s studying maths, which many people hate.
f. I’ve just met Susan, whose husband works in London.
g. He had thousands of books, most of which he had read.

I could see two girls standing on the platform. The girl who was carrying a small child got onto
the train. (defining relative clause)
I could see two girls standing on the platform. One of the girls, who was carrying a small child,
got onto the train. (non-defining relative clause)

Unlike in a defining relative clause, this information is not absolutely necessary in order to
identify who or what we are talking about, it does not define, but adds information. Such relative
clauses are often referred to as non-defining relative clauses, compare:
I could see two girls standing on the platform. The girl who was carrying a small child got onto
the train. (defining relative clause)
I could see two girls standing on the platform. One of the girls, who was carrying a small child,
got onto the train. (non-defining relative clause)

Non-defining relative clauses have a variety of uses in written English. As well as adding
descriptive information, they are often used to indicate that one event happened after another, e.g:

She called out to the man, who ran off.

I picked up the model, which fell apart in my hands.

Sometimes non-defining relative clauses are used to make a comment about the whole situation
described in a main clause, rather than someone or something mentioned within it, e.g:

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She felt really nervous about the interview, which was understandable.
He came for the weekend wearing only some shorts and a t-shirt, which was a stupid thing to do.

When the relative pronoun refers back to a person and is the subject of the non-defining relative
clause, who is used, e.g.:
The woman, who later died in hospital, has not yet been named.

When the relative pronoun refers back to a thing and is the subject of the non-defining relative
clause, which is used, e.g.:

This new project, which begins in September, will cost several million pounds.

When the relative pronoun refers back to a person and is the object of the non-defining relative
clause, who or whom are used, e.g.:

Her previous manager, who she had never liked, retired six months ago.

Edward's brother, whom she later married, never spoke to his parents again.
Register note. As in defining relative clauses, whom is rather formal and would only be used in
written English or formal spoken English.

When the relative pronoun refers back to a thing and is the object of the non-defining relative
clause, which is used, e.g.:

This bar of chocolate, which he devoured immediately, was the first thing he had eaten in two
days.

Note that, unlike in defining relative clauses, there is no zero relative pronoun, i.e. the pronoun
cannot be left out when it is functioning as the object of the relative clause, cf:

He was a distant cousin who/whom/that she had never met. (defining)

He was a distant cousin she had never met. (defining)
A distant cousin, who/whom she had never met, was meeting her for lunch. (non-defining)

関係詞節の仕組み

限定詞×名詞×関係詞
[主観] [客観] [定義]

This is the boy that brought me the letter.

He mentioned a book whose title I can't remember now.

関係詞の実質的考察

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関係詞
関係詞の種類
関係詞として登場するものは、実はすでに疑問詞としておなじみのものである。たとえ
ば who は「だれ」、what は「なに」という意味でよく知られている。ところが who や what
などが疑問詞として意味を持つのは、誇張していえば例外的な場合だといえる。実はこれ
らの言葉は、ある一定の種類の言葉を入れる「器」に過ぎない。しかもこれらの器は異な
る色に着色された半透明のもので、その向こうにあるものが透けて見えるのである。これ
らの言葉の本来の意味を次に示す。なお、that は疑問詞ではないが関係代名詞として登場
する。

関係詞 疑問詞？ 接続詞

特定情報 不特定情報 主語 主語
who someone ○ そのひと ○ だれ
whose someone's その人の* だれのもの
whom someone その人を､に だれを
which そちらのもの どちら
where somewhere その場所 どこ ～する所に(へ)
when sometime そのとき いつ ～するとき
how やりかた どのように
what something ○ そのもの､こと ○ なに
why 理由 なぜ
that

なお、上記の
関係詞には、関係代名詞と関係副詞がある。

関係代名詞が主語の代わりをする場合、省略できない。

関係詞としての働きを有するもの

Non-defining clauses: give extra information about the noun, but they are not essential:

The desk in the corner, which is covered in books, is mine.

(We don't need this information in order to understand the sentence. "The desk in the corner is
mine" is a good sentence on its own -- we still know which desk is referred to. Note that
non-defining clauses are usually separated by commas, and that is not usually used in this kind of
context.)

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Defining clauses: give essential information about the noun:

The package that arrived this morning is on the desk.

(We need this information in order to understand the sentence. Without the relative clause, we
don't know which package is being referred to. Note that that is often used in non-defining
relative clauses, and they are not separated by commas.)

関係副詞
The premier gave a speech where the workers were striking.

Their destination is unknown.

＝ Where they are going is unknown.
I will read whichever manuscript arrives first.
Whoever broke the window will have to replace it.

As you might expect, the place that makes the most advanced use of technology in promoting
public participation is America, where officials now invite online comments from outsiders when
they draw up legislation on subjects like environmental protection. A Department of Agriculture
draft on organic-food standards, for example, prompted more than 250,000 comments. Yet the
expertise mostly comes from a narrow range of specialists.

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