RELATIVE PRONOUNS. 1.- DEFINING RELATIVE SENTENCES.

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1 Who... people (subject) Whom... people (object) Which... things Where... places When... times Whose... possession RELATIVE PRONOUNS. 1.- DEFINING RELATIVE SENTENCES. Have a look at these examples: I found the man who lives near my flat. I gave you the parcel which arrived this morning. Who lives near my flat and which arrived this morning are "defining relative clauses". They tell us which person or thing the speaker means; they define or give us essential information about the noun they refer to. The noun is restricted by the subordinated sentence. Which man? The one who lives near my flat. Which parcel? The one that arrived this morning Defining relative clauses with who, that and which. We use who for people and which for things. I found the man who lives near my flat. I gave you the parcel which arrived this morning. We can also use "That" instead of who or which in defining relative clauses. It is more informal. I found the man that lives near my flat. I gave you the parcel that arrived this morning. Note that who, which or that replace the pronoun.

2 I found a man. He lives near my flat. I talked to the man who gave you a present NOT: I talked to the man who he lives near my flat Leaving out Who, That and Which The relative pronouns "who", "that" or "which" can be the object or the subject of a defining relative sentence. Peter is the boy who came yesterday. Who is the subject of "came": (He came yesterday) Peter is the boy who I saw in the restaurant yesterday. Who is the object of "saw", not the subject (I saw him in the restaurant yesterday. "I" is the subject) When, in a defining relative sentence, the relative pronoun is the object, we often leave it out. So we have the following possibilities for this sentence: Peter is the boy *whom I saw in the restaurant yesterday. (Very formal) Peter is the boy who I saw in the restaurant yesterday (less formal than "whom") Peter is the boy that I saw in the restaurant yesterday (less formal than "who") Peter is the boy I saw in the restaurant yesterday (informal) 1.3. Defining relative clauses with Whose, Where, When and Why or That. WHOSE is used to talk about possession and it substitutes the possessive adjectives (my, his, her, our, your, their) I saw a girl. Her bag was red. I saw a girl whose bag was red. They are the students. Their teacher is Mr Smith. They are the students whose teacher is Mr Smith. WHERE is used for places The supermarket where I normally buy is closed WHEN is used for times Tell me the time when we can meet After the word "reason", we can use WHY or THAT in a relative clause. The reason why I am angry is because you don t work enough.

3 NOTE: We can leave out "when" and "why/that" Tell me the time we can meet. That was the reason I was angry. NOTE: We can leave out "where" if we use a preposition. The hotel where we stayed was near the sea The hotel we stayed at was near the sea 1.4. Relative clauses with prepositions + Which and Whom We can use a preposition before which and whom: in which, with whom in a defining relative clause That was the village in which he was born. The girl at whom I was looking was your sister. But in everyday speech, it is more normal to put the preposition at the end of the relative clause and to leave out the relative pronoun. That the village he was born in is near here. The girl I was looking at was very pretty. 2.- NON-DEFINING RELATIVE SENTENCES. Non- defining relative clauses do not tell us which person or thing the speaker means: these clauses give more information about a person or a thing already identified. These types of clauses are more common in a formal style, especially in writing. When we write these clauses, we put commas (,) at the beginning of the clause and at the end of it, too Using Who and Which We use who for people and which for things. That cannot be used. Peter's parents, who are both doctors, live next door. (Not : that are both doctors) We cannot leave out "who" or "which". These pronouns cannot be omitted. She gave me the book, which I had lent her. (Not:... the book, I had lent her)

4 2.2. Whose, Where, When and Whom We can use all these pronouns in non-defining relative clauses. Brenda Smith, whose husband is the actor Sean Mann, is a good friend of mine. We are going on holiday in May, when the weather isn t so hot. We use whom instead of who when it is the object of a verb in a non-defining. Brenda Smith, whom/who I met when I was at school, is married to Sean Mann Non-defining relative sentences with prepositions. In formal style we can use a preposition before which and whom, but in everyday speech it s more common to put the preposition at the end of the clause and to use who instead of whom. Remember that we cannot leave out the relative pronoun even when it s the object of the relative clause She s studying Japanese, about which I know very little. (Less common) She s studying Japanese, which I know very little about. (More common) Mr Smith, to whom I talked, was not in the office. (Less common) Mr Smith, who I talked to, was not in the office. (More common) CONTRAST DEFINING NON-DEFINING The relative clause tells us which person or thing the speaker means.ie, they define the antecedent The man who lives next door is a singer I worked for a company that went bankrupt We do not use commas The relative doesn t tell us which person or thing the speaker means. We already know. They give extra, additional information. My brother, who lives in Ireland, is a doctor We went to Bali, which is a paradise We use commas(,) In both types "who" is used for people and "which" for things. But:

5 We can use "that" The man who/that lives next door is a singer I worked for a company which/that went bankrupt We can leave out the relative pronoun when it's the object. We went to an island (that/which)i had seen in a postcard "Whom" is too formal We cannot use "that" We went to Bali, which is a paradise. We cannot leave out "who" or "which" You can use "whom" when it s the object. Yesterday I met Mike, whom/who I hadn t seen for ages