RELATIVE CLAUSE ISSUES

1. RELATIVE CLAUSE ISSUES EN112 Bay Mills Community College I. Melis

2. Relative clauses are easy to recognize: They all start with relative pronouns Which That Who Whom Whose Whoever Whomever Whatever Whichever

3. Relative pronoun issue 1: “who” or “whom”? “who” = subject position (agent of action) • The boy who won the prize is only 16. (He won the prize) “whom”=object position (target of action) • The boy whom we selected for president is only 16. (We selected him) Rule of thumb: • When in doubt, use “who” • Use “whom” only in formal writing and when you know it is correct: “To whom it concerns”

4. Relative clauses are dependent clauses: They cannot be a complete sentence on their own. • Incorrect: We bought 3 tickets for the concert. Which was silly because Tim never showed up. • Correct: • We bought 3 tickets for the concert, which was silly because Tim never showed up.

5. Punctuation matters ! Defining or restrictive relative clauses modify meaning and are essential parts of a sentence. No comma is needed: • The shirt that Amy is wearing today is stained. • The shirt Amy is wearing today is stained. • The boy who won the contest is dating my sister. • The senator who was re-elected this year is Republican.

6. Punctuation matters! • Non-defining or non-restrictive relative clauses contain additional or inserted information, so they are set off by commas: • David, who never comes on time, was in class today right on the dot. • China, which has the largest population in the world, will soon begin to increase its meat production. OTHER ISSUES: Rules of thumb: • Use “who” with persons and “that” with non-persons • “That” is not used in non-restrictive relative clauses (no comma with “that”!)