RELATIVE CLAUSES

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RELATIVE CLAUSES
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What are relative clauses?

• Subordinate clauses which allow us to add
  information about people or things we are talking
  to, without a need to repeat the name
• e.g. That is the house. The house was built on
  the main road.
• That is the house which was built on the
  main road.

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• Relative clauses are introduced just after the
  antecedent and are introduced by a pronoun or a
  relative adverb. The most frequent ones are
• who whom which that (only in defining relative
  clauses) and relative adverbs where when why.

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• After preposition you write whom for people and
  which for things, but it is more common to place
  prepositions at the end of the sentence (and it
  is more usual in spoken English).
• e.g. This is the boy about whom you were asking
  me
• This is the boy (who) you were asking me about.
• Only whom and which, you cant use it with that

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DEFINING RELATIVE CLAUSES

• They give essential information about their
  antecedent and without them, the meaning will be
  incompleted. That is why you write them without
  commas. (oracions especificatives)
• The computer which we bought is very expensive
• The man who is coming will bring us the present

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• Relative pronouns cant be omitted if its the
  subject of the relative clauses.
• The man who visited yesterday is an actor
• The house that was so old was rebuilt.
• But if its not the subject it can be omitted
• the man (whom/that) I met at the party told me
  the truth
• The house (which/that) we bought is very
  comfortable

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• If the relative pronoun is followed by a verb,
• then it cant be omitted. If the relative is
  followed
• by a subject verb, then its almost sure you
  can
• drop it
• whose cant be omitted, though its never a
• subject
• e.g. the horse whose leg you broke had to be
  killed
• what means el que les coses que and
  is used when the antecedent is understood
• e.g. I know what you did last summer.

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NON-DEFINING RELATIVE CLAUSES

• If we remove this relative clause, theres no
  problem to understand the main sentence, since it
  gives extra information. Thus, we write it
  between commas.
• e.g. The European Police Force, which began
  working in 1999, is called Europol.

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• The antencedent is usually a proper name of a
  person or thing and it contains a possessive like
  my, his, her, the definite article the or
  demonstratives like this, that, these or
  those
• My house, which is quite comfortable, needs
• redecorating.
• This book, which I bought last week, is not as
  interesting as I thought.

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• Main Features
• Between commas
• That is not allowed
• The relative pronoun cant be omitted
• Its less frequent than defining relative
  clauses. It is more formal and usually used in
  written texts.

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RELATIVE CLAUSES
NON-DEFINING
DEFINING
fgfgfghfgh
The information given is not essential,it can be
omitted.
They give us essential information
PRONOUNS
PRONOUNS
WHO THAT
WHICH THAT
WHO
WHICH
WHOSE
WHEN
WHEN/THAT WHOM
WHOSE
WHERE
WHERE
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Defining and Non-Defining Use these prompts to
write one sentences for each question. Sometimes
you need a defining relative clause (i.e. without
commas) and sometimes you need a non-defining
relative clause - with commas. Examples Defining
- We went and had dinner at that restaurant that
you sister recommended. Non-Defining - We went
and had dinner at the "Three Roses" restaurant,
which your sister recommended
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1.Bob has one daughter. His daughter is called
Maria. She goes to Yale University.Bob's
daughter ________________________________. Bobs
daughter, whose name is Maria, goes to Yale
University. 2. You recommended a book for me. I
read it.I read ________________________________.
I read the book (that/which) you recommended
me. 3. Havana is the capital of Cuba. Havana has
a lively night life.Havana ______________________
__________. Havana, which is the capital of
Cuba, has a lively night life. 4. One of my
sisters lives in Paris. The other one lives in
London. The one in Paris is getting married next
year. My sister ________________________________.
My sister who lives in Paris is getting
married next year.
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5. Michael Jackson made a video in 1984. It was
called "Thriller". It is considered a classic by
his fans.In 1984 Michael Jackson
________________________________. In 1984 Michael
Jackson made his video Thriller, which is
considered a classic by his fans.. 6. I have a
lot of friends. One is a dentist. He lives in
Hawaii.I have a friend __________________________
______. I have a friend who is a dentist and
lives in Hawaii. 7. Lord Aston was born in 1834.
He was born in Hambwell House in the north of
England. Hambwell House is now a school.Lord
Aston was born ________________________________. L
ord Aston was born in 1834 in Hambwell House,
which is in the north of England and is now a
school. 8. We visited four cities on our European
tour. All of us preferred the same city. It was
also the most expensive.All of us
________________________________. All of us
preferred the most expensive city of the four
(cities) (which/that)we visited on our European
tour.