Relative Clauses

by :Adrian ~Aulia~Deasy

“ The woman who lives next the door is a doctor “ relative clause

• A clause is part of sentence • A relative clause tell us which person or thing (or

what kind of person or thing ) the speaker means The woman who live next the door is .. ( “ who lives next the door “ tell us which woman )

• We use relative pronouns: – who, that – for people– which, that – for objects– where – for places– whose – to talk about possession– when, that – for a time– why, that – for a reason– whom – for object pronouns (people)

• That is more formal than which, but sometimes you have to use which

• What = ‘ the thing (s)that’. Compare what and that , look at these example :

- What happened was my fault. ( = the thing that happened )

- Everything that happened was my fault ( not everything what happened )

Remember than in relative clauses we use who/that/which, not he/she/they/it.

“ I’ve never spoken to the woman who lives next to the door “. ( not the woman she live )

• You must use who/that/which when it is subject of the relative clause, So you can’t say

The woman lives next the door is a doctor

Look at these example:

The woman who lives next the door is a doctor.

The woman lives next the door. who (= the woman) is the subject

• Sometimes who/that/which is the object of the verb, for example :

The girl who I wanted to see was away on holiday.

I wanted to see the woman

who (= the girl) is the object “ I “ is the subject

• When who/that/which is the object, you leave it out, so you can say :

The girl I wanted to see was away. or The girl who I wanted to see was away. Is there anything I can do ? or Is there anything that I can do ? Note that we say : The dress Liz bought (The dress Liz bought it )

• Note the position of preposition (in/to/for.etc) in relative clause :

Tom is talking to a woman-do you know ?

Do you know the woman (who/that) Tom is talking to

I slept in a sofa – it wasn’t comfortable The sofa ( that/which) I slept in wasn’t very comfortable

Are these the books you were looking for ? Or Are these the books that / which you were looking for ?

• Note that we say : The books you were looking for them

• You can’t say what in sentence like these : Everything that he said was true ( not Everything what he said was true )• What = ‘ the thing (s) that ‘ :Did you hear what they said ( = the thing that they said )

Whose/Whom/Where

• Whose – We use “Whose” mostly for people

• I met a man who knows you

• Whom – we can use whom instead of who when it is object of

the verb in the relative clause• The woman whom I wanted to see was away

NB– We do not often use whom in spoken English

• Where– You can use where in a relative clause to talk

about place• The restaurant where we had dinner was near the

airport

• We can say the day/the year/the time etc. to show that something happens.– Last time (that) I saw her, she looked fine.

Extra Information Clauses

Type 1

The woman who lives next door is a doctor

In these example, the relative clause tells you which person the speaker means,

We do not use commas (,)

Type 2

Colin told me about his new job, which he’s enjoying .

the relative clauses in these sentence give us extra information

We use commas (,)

In both types of relative clause we can use who/which/whose/where

• Barbara works for a company which/that makes furniture,

John, who (not that) speaks French, works as a tourist guide.

– You cannot use that in this type of sentence

Relative Clauses 5

Prepositions + whom/which

All of/Most of + whom/which

Which

Prepositions + whom/which

Use a preposition

before :

Whom (for people)

Which(for thing)

Prepositions + whom/whichUse a preposition

before :

Whom (for people)

to whomwith whomfor whom

Mr. Lee, to whom I spoke at the meeting , is very interested in our

proposal.

Which(for thing)

in whichabout which

without which

Fortunately we had a map, without which would have got lost.

Prepositions + whom/which

In INFORMAL English :We KEEP the PREPOSITION AFTER the VERB.WHEN we DO THIS, we normally USE ‘WHO’ (not whom) for PEOPLE.

e.g. : 1. This is my friend from Canada, who I was telling you

about.2. Yesterday we visited the City Museum, which I’d never

been to before.

All of/Most of, etc. + whom/which

First case :Mary has 3 brothers. All of them are married.

Mary has 3 brothers, all of whom are married.

Second case :They asked me a lot of questions. I couldn’t answer most of them.

They asked me a lot questions, most of which I couldn’t answer.

All of/Most of, etc. + whom/which

All of/ most of

whom/which

I have many shoes, most of which are red.

None of/ neither of/ any of/ either of

Martin tried on three jacket, none of which fitted him.

Some of/ many of/ much of/ (a) few of

Sue has a lot of friends, many of them she was at school with.

Both of/ half of/ each of/ one of/ two of

They’ve got three cars, two of which they rarely use.

In the same way, you can say :

All of/ Most of, etc. + whom/which

The cause of which The building was destroyed in a fire, the cause of which was never established.

The name of We stayed at beautiful hotel, the name of which I can’t remember now.

You can also say :

Which (not what)

Use which in sentences like this : Joe got the job. This surprised everybody.

Joe got the job, which surprised everybody.

which = this = ‘the fact that he got job’

Which (not what)

• ‘Which’ is used to explain the main clause.e.g. :1. Sarah couldn’t meet us, which was a pity.

(not what was a pity)2. The weather was good, which we hadn’t expected.

(not what we hadn’t expected)

-ing and –ed Clauses

-ing and -ed Clauses

Some clauses begin with :

-ing clause

Do you know the woman talking to Tom?

-ed clause

The boy injured in the accident was taken

hospital.

-ing and -ed Clauses

Use –ing clausesTo say what

somebody/something is (or was) doing at

particular time

1. Do you know the woman talking to

Sam?(The woman is talking to Sam)

2. Police investigating the crime are looking

for three men.(Police are

investigating the crime)

To say what happens all time, not just at a

particular time

1. The road connecting the two

villages is very narrow.

(The road connects the two villages)

2. I have a large room overlooking the

garden.(The room overlooks

the garden)

Use –ing and –ed Clauses• -ed clauses have a passive meaning.e.g. : 1. The boy injured in the accident was taken to hospital. ( he was injured in the

accident)2. George showed me some pictures painted by his father. (they had been

painted by his father)

• NOTE!!!Many past participles (V3) are irregular and do not end in –ed. (stolen/known/made/written/etc.)e.g. :1. The police never found the money stolen in the robbery.

(Money was stolen in the robbery)2. Most of the goods made in this factory are expected.

Use –ing and –ed Clauses

• We OFTEN use –ing and –ed clauses AFTER there is/ there was, etc.

e.g. :1. There were some children swimming in the

river.2. Is there any body waiting?3. There was a big red car parked outside the

house?

THANK YOU

Source : English Grammar in Use , Cambridge