Relative
Pronouns
relative pronoun
|
use
|
example
|
who
|
subject or object pronoun for people
|
I told you about the woman who lives
next door.
|
which
|
subject or object pronoun for animals and
things
|
Do you see the cat which is
lying on the roof?
|
which
|
referring to a whole sentence
|
He couldn’t read which surprised
me.
|
whose
|
possession for people animals and things
|
Do you know the boy whose mother
is a nurse?
|
whom
|
object pronoun for people, especially in
non-defining relative clauses (in defining relative clauses we colloquially
prefer who)
|
I was invited by the professor whom I
met at the conference.
|
that
|
subject or object pronoun for people,
animals and things in defining relative clauses (who or which are
also possible)
|
I don’t like the table that stands
in the kitchen.
|
Subject
Pronoun or Object Pronoun?
Subject
and object pronouns cannot be distinguished by their forms - who, which, that
are used for subject and object pronouns. You can, however, distinguish them as
follows:
If the
relative pronoun is followed by a verb, the relative pronoun is a subject
pronoun. Subject pronouns must always be used.
the apple which is lying
on the table
If the
relative pronoun is not followed by a verb (but by a noun or pronoun), the
relative pronoun is an object pronoun. Object pronouns can be
dropped in defining relative clauses, which are then called Contact
Clauses.
the apple (which) George lay
on the table
Relative
Adverbs
A
relative adverb can be used instead of a relative pronoun plus preposition.
This often makes the sentence easier to understand.
This is the shop in
which I bought my bike.
→ This is the shop where I bought my bike.
relative adverb
|
meaning
|
use
|
example
|
when
|
in/on which
|
refers to a time expression
|
the day when we met him
|
where
|
in/at which
|
refers to a place
|
the place where we met him
|
why
|
for which
|
refers to a reason
|
the reason why we met him
|
Defining
Relative Clauses
Defining
relative clauses (also called identifying relative clauses or restrictive
relative clauses) give detailed information defining a general term or
expression. Defining relative clauses are not put in commas.
Imagine,
Tom is in a room with five girls. One girl is talking to Tom and you ask
somebody whether he knows this girl. Here the relative clause defines which of
the five girls you mean.
Do you know the girl who is
talking to Tom?
Defining
relative clauses are often used in definitions.
A seaman is someone who works on
a ship.
Object
pronouns in defining relative clauses can be dropped. (Sentences with a
relative clause without the relative pronoun are called Contact Clauses.)
The boy (who/whom) we
met yesterday is very nice.
Non-Defining
Relative Clauses
Non-defining
relative clauses (also called non-identifying relative clauses or non-restrictive
relative clauses) give additional information on something, but do not
define it. Non-defining relative clauses are put in commas.
Imagine,
Tom is in a room with only one girl. The two are talking to each other and you
ask somebody whether he knows this girl. Here the relative clause is
non-defining because in this situation it is obvious which girl you mean.
Do you know the girl, who is
talking to Tom?
Note: In
non-defining relative clauses, who/which may not be replaced
with that.
Object
pronouns in non-defining relative clauses must be used.
Jim, who/whom we met yesterday,
is very nice.
How to
Shorten Relative Clauses?
Relative
clauses with who, which, that as
subject pronoun can be replaced with a participle.
This makes the sentence shorter and easier to understand.
I told you about the woman who
lives next door. – I told you about the woman living next
door.
Do you see the cat which
is lying on the roof? – Do you see the cat lying on
the roof?
Relative clauses
What is a relative clause?
We can use relative clauses to join two English sentences, or
to give more information about something.
I bought a new car. It is very fast.
→ I bought a new car that is very
fast.
She lives in New York. She likes living in New York.
→ She lives in New York, which
she likes.
Defining and Non-defining
A defining
relative clause tells which noun
we are talking about:
- I like the woman who lives next
door.
(If I don't say 'who lives next door', then we don't know which woman I
mean).
A non-defining
relative clause gives us extra
information about something. We don't need this information to understand the
sentence.
- I live in London, which has some
fantastic parks.
(Everybody knows where London is, so 'which has some fantastic parks' is
extra information).
Defining relative clauses:
1: The relative pronoun is the subject:
First, let's consider when the relative pronoun is the
subject of a defining relative clause.
We can use 'who', 'which' or 'that'. We use 'who' for people
and 'which' for things. We can use 'that' for people or things.
The relative clause can come after the subject or the object
of the sentence. We can't drop the relative pronoun.
For example (clause after the object of the sentence):
- I'm looking for a secretary who
/ that can use a computer well.
- She has a son who / that is a
doctor.
- We bought a house which / that
is 200 years old.
- I sent a letter which / that
arrived three weeks later.
More examples (clause after the subject of the sentence):
- The people who / that live on
the island are very friendly.
- The man who / that phoned is my
brother.
- The camera which / that costs
£100 is over there.
- The house which / that belongs
to Julie is in London.
2: The relative pronoun is the object:
Next, let's talk about when the relative pronoun is the
object of the clause. In this case we can drop the relative pronoun if we want
to. Again, the clause can come after the subject or the object of the sentence.
Here are some examples:
(Clause after the object)
- She loves the chocolate (which /
that) I bought.
- We went to the village (which /
that) Lucy recommended.
- John met a woman (who / that) I
had been to school with.
- The police arrested a man (who /
that) Jill worked with.
(Clause after the subject)
- The bike (which / that) I loved
was stolen.
- The university (which / that)
she likes is famous.
- The woman (who / that) my
brother loves is from Mexico.
- The doctor (who / that) my
grandmother liked lives in New York.
Non-defining relative clauses:
We don't use 'that' in non-defining relative clauses, so we
need to use 'which' if the pronoun refers to a thing, and 'who' if it refers to
a person. We can't drop the relative pronoun in this kind of clause, even if
the relative pronoun is the subject of the clause.
(Clause comes after the subject)
- My boss, who is very nice, lives
in Manchester.
- My sister, who I live with,
knows a lot about cars.
- My bicycle, which I've had for
more than ten years, is falling apart.
- My mother's house, which I grew
up in, is very small.
(Clause comes after the object)
- Yesterday I called our friend
Julie, who lives in New York.
- The photographer called to the
Queen, who looked annoyed.
- Last week I bought a new
computer, which I don't like now.
- I really love the new Chinese
restaurant, which we went to last night.
Prepositions and relative clauses
If the verb in the relative clause needs a preposition, we
put it at the end of the clause:
For example:
The music is good. Julie listens to the music.
→ The music (which / that) Julie
listens to is good.
My brother met a woman. I used to work with the woman.
→ My brother met a woman (who /
that) I used to work with.
The country is very hot. He went to the country.
→ The country (which / that) he
went to is very hot.
I visited the city. John comes from the city.
→ I visited the city (that /
which) John comes from.
The job is well paid. She applied for the job.
→ The job (which / that) she
applied for is well paid.
Whose
'Whose' is always the subject of the relative clause and
can't be left out. It replaces a possessive. It can be used for people and
things.
The dog is over there. The dog's / its owner lives next door.
→ The dog whose owner lives next door is over there.
The little girl is sad. The little girl's / her doll was
lost.
→ The little girl whose doll was lost is sad.
The woman is coming tonight. Her car is a BMW.
→ The woman whose car is a BMW is coming tonight.
The house belongs to me. Its roof is very old.
→ The house whose roof is old belongs to me.
Where / when / why
We can sometimes use these question words instead of relative
pronouns and prepositions.
I live in a city. I study in the city.
→ I live in the city where I study.
→ I live in the city that / which I study in.
→ I live in the city in which I study.
The bar in Barcelona is still there. I met my wife in that
bar.
→ The bar in Barcelona where I met my wife is still there.
→ The bar in Barcelona that / which I met my wife in is
still there.
→ The bar in Barcelona in which I met my wife is still there.
The summer was long and hot. I graduated from university in
the summer.
→ The summer when I
graduated from university was long and hot.
→ The summer that / which I graduated from university in was
long and hot.
→ The summer in which I graduated was long and hot.
CONDITIONAL
Conditional tenses are used to speculate
about what could happen, what might have happened, and what we wish would
happen. In English, most sentences using the conditional contain the word if. Many conditional forms in English are used in sentences
that include verbs in one of the past tenses. This usage is referred to as "the unreal past" because we use a past tense but we are not actually referring
to something that happened in the past. There are five main ways of
constructing conditional sentences in English. In all cases, these sentences
are made up of an if clause and a main clause. In many
negative conditional sentences, there is an equivalent sentence construction using "unless" instead of "if".
Conditional sentence type
|
Usage
|
If clause verb tense
|
Main clause verb tense
|
Zero
|
General truths
|
Simple present
|
Simple present
|
Type 1
|
A possible condition and its
probable result
|
Simple present
|
Simple future
|
Type 2
|
A hypothetical condition and its
probable result
|
Simple past
|
Present conditional or Present
continuous conditional
|
Type 3
|
An unreal past condition and its
probable result in the past
|
Past perfect
|
Perfect conditional
|
Mixed type
|
An unreal past condition and its
probable result in the present
|
Past perfect
|
Present contditional
|
THE ZERO CONDITIONAL
The zero
conditional is used for when the time being referred to is now or always and the situation is real and possible. The zero
conditional is often used to refer to general truths. The tense in both parts
of the sentence is the simple present. In zero conditional sentences, the word
"if" can usually be replaced by the word "when" without
changing the meaning.
If clause
|
Main clause
|
If + simple present
|
simple present
|
If this thing happens
|
that thing happens.
|
If you heat ice
|
it melts.
|
If it rains
|
the grass gets wet.
|
TYPE 1 CONDITIONAL
The type 1
conditional is used to refer to the present
or future where the situation is real. The type 1
conditional refers to a possible condition and its probable result. In these
sentences the if clause is in the simple present, and the main clause is in the
simple future.
If clause
|
Main clause
|
If + simple present
|
simple future
|
If this thing happens
|
that thing will happen.
|
If you don't hurry
|
you will miss the train.
|
If it rains today
|
you will get wet.
|
TYPE 2 CONDITIONAL
The type 2
conditional is used to refer to a time that is now or any time, and a situation that
is unreal. These sentences are
not based on fact. The type 2 conditional is used to refer to a hypothetical
condition and its probable result. In type 2 conditional sentences, the if
clause uses the simple past, and the main clause uses the present conditional.
If clause
|
Main clause
|
If + simple past
|
present conditional or present
continuous conditional
|
If this thing happened
|
that thing would happen. (but I'm
not sure this thing will happen) OR
that thing would be happening.
|
If you went to bed earlier
|
you would not be so tired.
|
If it rained
|
you would get wet.
|
If I spoke Italian
|
I would be working in Italy.
|
TYPE 3 CONDITIONAL
The type 3
conditional is used to refer to a time that is in the past, and a situation that is contrary to reality. The facts they
are based on are the opposite of what is expressed. The type 3 conditional is
used to refer to an unreal past condition and its probable past result. In type
3 conditional sentences, the if clause uses the past perfect, and the main
clause uses the perfect conditional.
If clause
|
Main clause
|
If + past perfect
|
perfect conditional or perfect
continuous conditional
|
If this thing had happened
|
that thing would have happened.
(but neither of those things really
happened) OR
that thing would have been happening.
|
If you had studied harder
|
you would have passed the exam.
|
If it had rained
|
you would have gotten wet.
|
If I had accepted that promotion
|
I would have been working in Milan.
|
MIXED TYPE CONDITIONAL
The mixed
type conditional is used to refer to a time that is in the past, and a situation that is ongoing into the present. The facts
they are based on are the opposite of what is expressed. The mixed type
conditional is used to refer to an unreal past condition and its probable
result in the present. In mixed type conditional sentences, the if clause uses
the past perfect, and the main clause uses the present conditional.
If clause
|
Main clause
|
If + past perfect or simple past
|
present conditional or perfect
conditional
|
If this thing had happened
|
that thing would happen. (but this
thing didn't happen so that thing isn't
happening)
|
If I had worked harder at school
|
I would have a better job now.
|
If we had looked at the map
|
we wouldn't be lost.
|
If you weren't afraid of spiders
|
you would have picked it up and put
it outside.
|