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Mastering Relative Clauses in English

Learn about different types of relative clauses, how to build them, and common issues students face. Explore examples and rules for defining, non-defining, and possessive relative clauses. Practice with exercises on relative adverbs and reduced clauses.

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Mastering Relative Clauses in English

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  1. RELATIVE CLAUSES • RELATIVE? In relation to what? • What types of relative clauses are there? • How are they built into the sentence? • What problems can students have?

  2. AFTER THE OBJECT Where do relative clauses appearin the sentence? AFTER THE SUBJECT • Mike tried to help a child who was lost. • Rome, which is the capital of Italy, lies on the Tiber. • I was to translate the whole text, which was impossible. AFTER A CLAUSE

  3. Defining / Non-defining Which is correct? • His wife, who is standing there, is very pretty. • His wife who is standing thereis very pretty.

  4. Defining • The woman who lives in apartment No. 34 has been arrested. • The document (Ø /that/which) I need has 'IMPORTANT' written at the top. • That's the boy (Ø, that, who, whom) I invited to the party.

  5. Non-defining • Frank Zappa, who was one of the most creative artists in rock 'n roll, came from California. • Peter brought his favorite antique book, which he had found at a flee market, to show his friends. • The singer, whose most recent recording has had much success,is signing autographs.

  6. Co-ordinate relative • His daughter has decided to take a gap year, which is something more and more young people do these days. • Police have been investigating a drug ring , the result of whichwas a series of arrests. (NEVERWHAT!)

  7. Relative clauses with quantifiers It is preferable to use that (not which) after the following words: all, any(thing), every(thing), few, little, many, much, no(thing), none, some(thing), and after superlatives. • It was everything(that) he had ever wanted. • There were only a fewthatreally interested him. • Is the blue whalethe biggest animal that has ever lived?

  8. After numbers and words like many, most, neither, and some, we use of before whom and which in non-defining relative clauses. • These immigrants are registering their children, many of whom were born in the U.S. • Mr. Bittner cut down 25 acres of sweet cherry trees, someofwhichwere 30 years old.

  9. Relative adverbs:WHEN, WHERE, WHY • I'd like to know the reason (why/for which) he decided not to come. • February is the month (when/in which) many of my colleagues take skiing holidays. • She had always wanted to go to a country where/in which she could use her Spanish. (not optional) BUT

  10. Relative clauses with prepositions (defining) • The banker to whom I gave my check was quite friendly. – formal • The woman who/Ø I talked to was very pleasant indeed. – less formal • The lecture to which all faculty had been invited was excellent.- formal • I didn’t like the book which/Ø you are so enthusiastic about. – less formal

  11. Relative clauses with prepositions (non-defining) • The bank manager, to whom he addressed his complaints, was very unhelpful. – formal • The local branch manager, who I talked to about my problems, was very helpful. – very informal

  12. Possessive relative clauses • 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. • Olympia, whose name is taken from the Greek, is the capitol of Washington State.

  13. Non-finite/reduced relative clauses(defining) • The woman sitting next to Marian is her sister. • Each cell will continue to divide to form a human composed of millions of cells. • There’s food to be servedand drinks to be poured.

  14. Non-finite/reduced relative clauses(non-defining) • Someof the clients’ money, believed to total £6 million, has found its way into unquoted companies. • A certified teacher, holding a master's degree in education, should complete a state specified educational course of study.

  15. Infinitive clauses - passive or active? • There are all those apples to peel. • There are all those apples to be peeled. With other constructions, especially where quantifiers occur, the passive is less common: • We’ve got a lot of cooking to do.(less likely: to be done) • I have an essay to write for tomorrow morning.(much lesslikely: to be written)

  16. Reduced relative clauses(verbless) • Let’s discuss issues relevant to the topic on the agenda. [which are] • He has met many Canadian doctorscritical of their own health-care system. [who are]

  17. PROBLEMS? • PUNCTUATION • CHOICE OF RELATIVE PRONOUN • WHEN/WHERE/WHY (or prep+which) • PREPOSITIONS • POSSESSIVE RELATIVE (whose/N+of which) • CO-ORDINATE RELATIVE (WHICH!) • REDUCED RELATIVE CLAUSES

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