Relative pronouns and relative clause
Two kinds of relative clause
There are two kinds of relative clause:
1. We use relative clauses to make clear which person or thing we are
talking about (= a defining relative clause):
Marie Curie is the woman who discovered radium.
This is the house which Jack built.
In this kind of relative clause, we can use that instead of who or which:
Marie Curie is the woman that discovered radium.
This is the house that Jack built.
We can leave out the pronoun if it is the object of the relative clause:
This is the house that Jack built. (that is the object of
built)
2. We also use relative clauses to give more information about a
person, thing or situation (non defining relative clause):
Lord Thompson, who is 76, has just retired.
We had fish and chips, which I always enjoy.
I met Rebecca in town yesterday, which was a nice
surprise.
● With this kind of relative clause, we use commas (,) to separate it
from the rest of the sentence.
● In this kind of relative clause, we can’t use that instead of who or
which:
Lord Thompson, who is 76, has just retired.
(NOT Lord Thompson, t hat is 76, has just retired.)
● and we cannot leave out the pronoun:
We had fish and chips, which I always enjoy.
(NOT We had fish and chips, I always enjoy.)
The relative pronouns are:
Subject Object Possessive
who who/whom whose
which which whose
that that -
We use relative pronouns to introduce relative clauses (Defining or
non defining relative clause). Relative clauses tell us more about
people and things:
Lord Thompson, who is 76, has just retired.
This is the house which Jack built.
Marie Curie is the woman that discovered radium.
We use:
● who and whom for people
● which for things
● that for people or things.
whose and whom
We use whose as the possessive form of who:
This is George, w
hose brother went to school with me.
We sometimes use whom as the object of a verb or preposition:
This is George, whom you met at our house last year.
(whom is the object of met)
This is George’s brother, with whom I went to school.
(whom is the object of with)
but nowadays we normally use who:
This is George, who you met at our house last year.
This is George’s brother, who I went to school with.
Relative pronouns with prepositions
When who(m) or which have a preposition, the preposition
can come at the beginning of the clause:
I had an uncle in Germany, f rom who(m) I
inherited a bit of
money.
We bought a chainsaw, with which we cut up all the wood.
or at the end of the clause:
I had an uncle in Germany, w
ho(m) I inherited a bit of money
from.
We bought a chainsaw, which we cut all the wood up with.
!!!!! But when that has a preposition, the preposition always comes at
the end:
I didn't know the uncle that I inherited the money f rom.
We can't find the chainsaw that we cut all the wood up w
ith.
when and where
We can use when with times and where with places to make it clear
which time or place we are talking about:
England won the World Cup in 1966. It was the year w
hen we
got married.
I remember my twentieth birthday. It was the day w
hen the
tsunami happened.
Do you remember the place w
here we caught the train?
Stratford-upon-Avon is the town where Shakespeare was born.
We can leave out when:
England won the World Cup in 1966. It was the year w
e got
married.
I remember my twentieth birthday. It was the day t he tsunami
happened.
We often use quantifiers and numbers with relative pronouns:
all of most of many of
which/whom which/whom which/whom
lots of a few of none of
which/whom which/whom which/whom
one of two of etc.
which/whom which/whom
She has three brothers, t wo of whom are in the army.
I read three books last week, o
ne of which I really enjoyed.
There were some good programmes on the radio, n
one of which
I listened to.
