How to Form Relative Clause
Imagine,
a girl is talking to Tom. You want to know who she is and ask a friend whether
he knows her. You could say:
A
girl is talking to Tom. Do you know the girl?
That
sounds rather complicated, doesn't it? It would be easier with a relative
clause: you put both pieces of information into one sentence. Start with the
most important thing – you want to know who the girl is.
Do
you know the girl …
As
your friend cannot know which girl you are talking about, you need to put in
the additional information – the girl is talking to Tom. Use „the girl“
only in the first part of the sentence, in the second part replace it with the
relative pronoun (for people, use the relative pronoun „who“). So the final
sentence is:
Do
you know the girl who is talking to Tom?
Relative Pronouns
|
relative
pronoun
|
use
|
example
|
|
who
|
subject
or object pronoun for people
|
I
told you about the woman who lives next door.
|
|
which
|
subject
or object pronoun for animals and things
|
Do
you see the cat which is lying on the roof?
|
|
which
|
referring
to a whole sentence
|
He
couldn’t read which surprised me.
|
|
whose
|
possession
for people animals and things
|
Do
you know the boy whose mother is a nurse?
|
|
whom
|
object
pronoun for people, especially in non-defining relative clauses (in defining
relative clauses we colloquially prefer who)
|
I
was invited by the professor whom I met at the conference.
|
|
that
|
subject
or object pronoun for people, animals and things in defining relative clauses
(who or which are also possible)
|
I
don’t like the table that stands in the kitchen.
|
Subject Pronoun or Object Pronoun?
Subject
and object pronouns cannot be distinguished by their forms - who, which, that
are used for subject and object pronouns. You can, however, distinguish them as
follows:
If
the relative pronoun is followed by a verb, the relative pronoun is a subject
pronoun. Subject pronouns must always be used.
the
apple which is lying on the table
If
the relative pronoun is not followed by a verb (but by a noun or pronoun), the
relative pronoun is an object pronoun. Object pronouns can be dropped in
defining relative clauses, which are then called Contact Clauses.
the
apple (which) George lay on the table
Relative Adverbs
A
relative adverb can be used instead of a relative pronoun plus preposition.
This often makes the sentence easier to understand.
This
is the shop in which I bought my bike.
→ This is the shop where I bought my bike.
→ This is the shop where I bought my bike.
|
relative
adverb
|
meaning
|
use
|
example
|
|
when
|
in/on
which
|
refers
to a time expression
|
the
day when we met him
|
|
where
|
in/at
which
|
refers
to a place
|
the
place where we met him
|
|
why
|
for
which
|
refers
to a reason
|
the
reason why we met him
|
