IES Broch i Llop
English Language
IES Broch i LlopDept.
English Language Dept.
RELATIVE PRONOUNS
Unit 3
RELATIVE CLAUSES IES Broch i Llop
English Language Dept.
IES Broch i Llop
A relative clause introduces information about an element that precedes
English it.
Language Dept.
This element is known as the antecedent.
The antecedent and the relative pronoun do not have to fulfill the same
SYNTACTIC FUNCTION.
My dog, which is a poodle, is now 7 years old. SAME FUNCTION
My dog, with which I play, is now 7 years old. DIFFERENT FUNCTION
IES Broch i Llop
English Language Dept.
IES Broch i Llop
English Language Dept.
• They are subordinate clauses:
Oracions subordinades adjectives introduïdes per un pronom o adverbi
relatiu.
Mark is the student who went to school in France
IES Broch i Llop
English Language Dept.
My dog, which is a poodle, is now 7 years old. it
My mother, who was very tired, fell asleep soon. she
IES Broch i Llop
English Language Dept.
IES Broch i Llop
English Language Dept.
Se trata de oraciones subordinadas adjetivas introducidas por un pronombre o adverbio relativo
Replacing with "that" in spoken English IES Broch i Llop
English Language Dept.
The pronouns WHO, WHOM, and WHICH are often replaced byIES
THAT in SPOKEN
Broch i Llop
English Language Dept.
ENGLISH.
WHOM is very formal and is only used in written English. You can use who or that
instead, or omit the pronoun completely:
The doctor that I was hoping to see wasn't on duty. (whom)
• The dish that I ordered was delicious. (which)
• The man that came with her has already left. (who)
There are two types of relative sentences: IES Broch i Llop
English Language Dept.
DEFINING RELATIVE SENTENCES:
1st Bat students who passed all of their subjects went on a school trip to Amsterdam in june.
NON-DEFINING RELATIVE SENTENCES:
1st Bat students, who passed all of their subjects, went on a school trip to Amsterdam in june.
DEFINING Vs. NON-DEFINING IES Broch i Llop
English Language Dept.
IES Broch i Llop
English Language Dept.
The students who had passed all the subjects went on a school trip.
This is a defining relative clause: ONLY THOSE WHO PASSED
It restricts the meaning of the antecedent.
The students, who had passed all the subjects, went on a school trip.
This is a non-defining relative clause: ALL OF THE STUDENTS
It provides additional information about the antecedent and all of them will go on
a trip.
DEFINING RELATIVE CLAUSES (not written between commas) IES Broch i Llop
English Language Dept.
They provide essential information about the ANTECEDENT and the sentence would be incomplete without them.
WHO - THAT (peope)
WHICH - THAT (things) can be omitted if they function as the OBJECT of the sentence
WHERE (places)
WHEN – THAT (refers to a moment in time)
WHOSE (refers to possession)
Mark Leighton is the student who / that won the Best Mind Award.
Mark Leighton is the student (who / that) you saw yesterday.
That is the woman who / that is in charge of the shop.*
I’ve already read the book (which / that) Sally recommended me.
I’ve already read the book which / that tells the story of the haunted house.
DEFINING RELATIVE CLAUSES (not written between commas) IES Broch i Llop
English Language Dept.
That is the woman who / that is in charge of the shop.*
That is the woman in charge of the shop.*
When the verb of the relative sentence is verb to BE, both the relative pronoun and the verb can be omitted.
Claire is the girl (who / that) I was with.
WHO / THAT can be omitted, but not the verb TO BE because WHO / THAT function as OBJECT
DEFINING RELATIVE CLAUSES IES Broch i Llop
English Language Dept.
WHOSE (possession) cannot be omitted or replaced.
Matt is the boy whose father works in our company.
WHEN (time)
I will always remember WHEN I set foot in Australia.
In NON-formal contexts, it can be omitted if it is followed by nouns referring to TIME: DAY, WEEK, TIME, …
I will always remember the day (WHEN / THAT) I set foot in Australia.
DEFINING RELATIVE CLAUSES (especificatives)
IES Broch i Llop
English Language Dept.
IES Broch i Llop
English Language Dept.
WHY (reason) cannot be replaced by THAT
John will explain the reason for which he didn’t come to the party.
John will explain (the reason) why he didn’t come to the party.
DEFINING RELATIVE CLAUSES IES Broch i Llop
English Language Dept.
WHERE (place) cannot be replaced by THAT
Broch i Llop is the school where I took my certificate in secondary education.
That is the house where I was born.
This is the house in which I was born. ⇨ This is the house I was born in.
DEFINING RELATIVE CLAUSES IES Broch i Llop
English Language Dept.
If the relative pronoun comes along with a preposition…
The most common thing to do is removing the relative pronoun and placing
the preposition after the verb.
The student (who / that) I talked to was very nervous.
The person (who / that) I work for has three kids.
DEFINING RELATIVE CLAUSES (especificatives)
IES Broch i Llop
English Language Dept.
IES Broch i Llop
English Language Dept.
WHOM (very formal)used for people when the person is the OBJECT of the verb
The writer whom you criticized in your review has sent a letter in reply.
I was invited by the ambassador whom I met at the meeting.
IES Broch i Llop
English Language Dept.
IES Broch i Llop
English Language Dept.
NON-DEFINING RELATIVE CLAUSES (explicatives) IES Broch i Llop
English Language Dept.
They add information about the antecedent and ther are written between commas
and in oral communication they imply a special intonation.
They provide non-essential information.
They are introduced by WHO, WHICH, WHEN, WHERE & WHOSE which cannot be
omitted or replaced by THAT.
NON-DEFINING RELATIVE CLAUSES (explicatives) IES Broch i Llop
English Language Dept.
Maggie, who is a devoted employee, was promoted yesterday.
Kate, whose daughter lives in Stockholm, has just gone to Sweden.
The museum, which we have never visited before, is now for free.
Central Park, where we used to go at weekends, has been closed down.
I’m visiting Jordan in October, when the weather is not that hot.
FORMAL & INFORMAL structures IES Broch i Llop
English Language Dept.
IES Broch i Llop
English Language Dept.
When the relative pronoun is accompanied by a preposition, we can still use
WHICH if the antecedent refers to a thing.
If it refers to a person, we can use WHOM instead of WHO.
The student to whom I talked was very rude. FORMAL
The student (who) I talked to was very rude. INFORMAL
This is the house in which I lived. FORMAL
This is the house (which) I lived in. INFORMAL
WHO à subject of the sentence WHOM -> object of a verb or prepositon
IES Broch i Llop
English Language Dept.
Who would like to go on vacation? CORRECT IES Broch i Llop
ANY DOUBT?
English Language Dept.
Whom would you like to go with? CORRECT
Whom ate my sandwich? INCORRECT
Who do you believe? CORRECT Try this trick:
If you can replace the pronoun with ‘he’ or ‘she’, use WHO
If you can replace it with ‘him’ or ‘her’, use WHOM
This is George, whom (him) you met at the party. (whom is the object of met)
This is George’s brother, with whom I went to school. (whom is the object of with)
Many people don’t use whom in casual speech or writing.
IES Broch i Llop
English Language Dept.
IES Broch i Llop
Others use it only in well-established phrases such as English Language Dept.
“to whom it may concern.” -> “A quien corresponda”
Some people never use it.
It’s not unusual at all to hear sentences like these:
This is George, who you met at our house last year.
This is George’s brother, who I went to school with.
IES Broch i Llop
The woman who works with me is a well-known painter. English Language Dept.
IES Broch i Llop
English Language Dept.
Who is the SUBJECT of the relative clause, so that it cannot be omitted.
The woman who I work with is a well-known painter.
Who is the OBJECT of the relative clause, so that it can be omitted.
The woman I work with is a well-known painter.
The woman with whom I work is a well-known painter.
QUANTITY IN RELATIVE CLAUSES IES Broch i Llop
English Language Dept.
Quantity expressions: all followed by WHOM or WHICH IES Broch i Llop
English Language Dept.
- ALL OF - MOST OF - MANY OF - BOTH OF - NEITHER OF
- FEW OF - NONE OF - TWO/THREE OF
I asked my parents. Both of them knew the answer.
I asked my parents both of whom knew the answer.
The jobs are for management positions. Most of them require a BA.
The jobs, most of which are for management positions, require a BA.
IES Broch i Llop
English Language Dept.
Martin tried on three jackets. None of them fitted him.
IES Broch i Llop
English Language Dept.
Martin tried on three jackets, none of which fitted him.
They have three cars. They rarely use two of them.
They have three cars, two of which they rarely use.
Helen has got three brothers. They are all married.
Helen has got three brothers, all of whom are married.
