Relative clauses

Relative clauses • Classification: • Defining clauses • Non-defining clauses • Defining clauses vs. non-defining clauses • Similarity • difference • Relative clauses and prepositions • Exercises Technology in Language Teaching Instructor: Nguyen Ngoc Vu, M.A. Students: Diem Duyen & Bich Huyen

Defining clauses • Examples: • The woman who lives next door is a doctor. • She works for a company that makes stoves. Click here to listen to these sentences defining clause defining clause Technology in Language Teaching Instructor: Nguyen Ngoc Vu, M.A. Students: Diem Duyen & Bich Huyen

Defining clauses • Definition: defining clauses are relative clauses where the information is essential  the relative clauses tells you which person or thing (or what kind of person or things) the speaker means. • “The woman who lives next door” tells us which woman. • “A company that makes stoves” tells us which kind of company Technology in Language Teaching Instructor: Nguyen Ngoc Vu, M.A. Students: Diem Duyen & Bich Huyen

Defining clauses Notes: • we do not use comma (,) with these clauses • Ex: we know a lot of people who live in London. (no comma) • You can you “that” instead of “who” or “which”. • Ex: the man who/that answered the phone told me you were a way. • The bus which/that goes to the market runs every half an hour. Technology in Language Teaching Instructor: Nguyen Ngoc Vu, M.A. Students: Diem Duyen & Bich Huyen

Defining clause • You can leave out that/who/which when it if the object. Examples: • We went to the park (which/that) she recommended. • He is the person (who/that) I’ve told you about. • We do not often use “whom” in this type of clause. Technology in Language Teaching Instructor: Nguyen Ngoc Vu, M.A. Students: Diem Duyen & Bich Huyen

Non-defining clauses • Examples: • My brother, who lives next door, is a doctor. • She works for PQT company, which makes stoves. non-defining clause non-defining clause Technology in Language Teaching Instructor: Nguyen Ngoc Vu, M.A. Students: Diem Duyen & Bich Huyen

Non-defining clauses • Definition: non-defining clauses are relatives clauses where the information is additional and not essential  they do not tell you which person or thing the speaker means. We already know which thing or person is meant. Technology in Language Teaching Instructor: Nguyen Ngoc Vu, M.A. Students: Diem Duyen & Bich Huyen

Non-defining clauses Examples: • My brother, who lives next door, is a doctor. (additional information about my brother) • She works for PQT company, which makes stoves. (extra information about PQT company) Click here to listen to these sentences. Technology in Language Teaching Instructor: Nguyen Ngoc Vu, M.A. Students: Diem Duyen & Bich Huyen

Non-defining clauses Notes • We use comma (,) with these clauses. Examples: • John, who is a very honest person, is my best friend. • He is my best friend, who is a very honest person. Technology in Language Teaching Instructor: Nguyen Ngoc Vu, M.A. Students: Diem Duyen & Bich Huyen

Non-defining clauses • You can not use “that” in non-defining clauses. Examples: • that teacher, who (not that) teacher English very well, is my sister. • This table, which (not that) is made of wood, seems to be expensive. Technology in Language Teaching Instructor: Nguyen Ngoc Vu, M.A. Students: Diem Duyen & Bich Huyen

Non-defining clauses • You can not leave out “who” or “which” • Ex: We went to Le Thi Rieng park which she recommended. • You can use “whom” when it is the object. • Ex: He met Rose, whom (who) he got married later. Technology in Language Teaching Instructor: Nguyen Ngoc Vu, M.A. Students: Diem Duyen & Bich Huyen

Similarities In both types of relative clause: • We use “who” for people and “which” for things. • We can use “whose” and “where” Technology in Language Teaching Instructor: Nguyen Ngoc Vu, M.A. Students: Diem Duyen & Bich Huyen

Similarities Examples: • Defining clauses: • That man is the person whose daughter gets married to a very rich old man. They went to a park where they can find quiet atmosphere to study. • Non-defining clauses: • My bother, whose daughter married to a very old rich man, is very upset. • They went to that park, where they can find quiet atmosphere to study. Technology in Language Teaching Instructor: Nguyen Ngoc Vu, M.A. Students: Diem Duyen & Bich Huyen

Defining clauses We do not use comma with these clauses. We can you “that” instead of “who” or “which”. You can leave out that/who/which when it if the object We do not often use “whom” in this type of clause Non-defining clauses. We use comma with these clauses. You can not use “that” in non-defining clauses You can not leave out “who” or “which” You can use “whom” when it is the object. Differences Defining clauses • We do not use comma with these clauses. • We can you “that” instead of “who” or “which”. • You can leave out that/who/which when it if the object • We do not often use “whom” in this type of clause Non-defining clauses. • We use comma with these clauses. • You can not use “that” in non-defining clauses • You can not leave out “who” or “which” • You can use “whom” when it is the object. Technology in Language Teaching Instructor: Nguyen Ngoc Vu, M.A. Students: Diem Duyen & Bich Huyen

Relative clauses and prepositions • In relative clauses, a relative pronoun can be the object of a preposition. • He is the man aboutwhom I talked last night. (“whom” if the object of “about”) • This is the place atwhich I was born. prep rel. pron. Technology in Language Teaching Instructor: Nguyen Ngoc Vu, M.A. Students: Diem Duyen & Bich Huyen

Relative clauses and prepositions • In speech or in formal writing, we generally put the preposition at the end of the clause, otherwise it may sound very formal or awkward. Examples: • He is the man who I talked about last night. • He is my father, who I talked about last night. Technology in Language Teaching Instructor: Nguyen Ngoc Vu, M.A. Students: Diem Duyen & Bich Huyen

Relative clauses and prepositions • You can put quantifiers such as all, each, some, several, many or most before of whom and of which to give extra information about the whole or a part of a particular group. • Examples: • I have many friends, most of whom I really love. • These are the books, some of which I have told you about. Technology in Language Teaching Instructor: Nguyen Ngoc Vu, M.A. Students: Diem Duyen & Bich Huyen

Exercises • Click here to go to Hot Potatoes practice for relative clauses. Technology in Language Teaching Instructor: Nguyen Ngoc Vu, M.A. Students: Diem Duyen & Bich Huyen

That’s the end of our presentation Thank you for listening! Technology in Language Teaching Instructor: Nguyen Ngoc Vu, M.A. Students: Diem Duyen & Bich Huyen

Relative clauses