109 kertive clauses with who, which and that The use of relative clauses Look at this conversation: Jill: Lsaw Natalie Parker the other day. Tessa: Natalie? The woman who lived in the upstairs flat? Jil Noy that was Naomi. Notalieis the student who failed all her exams, the one who never did any studying, She’s working ix Davidson's now, the shop that sells eather goods. Tessa: Oh, Natalie. Yes, ofcourse. ‘These relative clauses identify which person or thing we ate talking about, The clause who lived the upstairs flat tells us which girl Tessa means, The clause that sells eather goods tells us which shop Jill means. Sometimes we can use an adjective or a phrase to identify someone or something, for example: ty fall irl the new student, the woman with blond hair, the shop om the corner. But when we need a Jonger explanation we can use a relative clause, for example: the woman whe lived inthe upstairs flat who, which and chat Who and which go after the noun and atthe beginning of the relative clause Who refers to people and which to things. Look at these examples: Mrs Bryant is the woman who owns that enonnous house, Idot lke people wo tell jokes all the time We saw the actual spacecraft which landed on the moor There are several restaurants which do Sunday lunches. Irluew away that old tin-opener which didn’t work The little girl who sat next to me onthe coach ate swets the whole way. Burglar alarms which ring for uo reason ave a real nuisance. ‘We do not use another pronoun with the relative pronoun: NOT =the man ihe he owns that enommousdog- NOT srsthe-actual spacecraft whiel-t-fanded on the-mooni- We can use that instead of who or which: Mes Bryant isthe womar who/that owns that enommous house We saw the actual spaceeraf which /that landed on the moon With people, who is more usual. With things, that is more usual, especially in conversation. Which can be litle formal The woman who lived here before us és a romantic novelist, Have you got the phone number ofthe chap who repaired your washing-machine? The car that won the race didn’t look anything very special ‘They've wecaptured all the animals that escaped fim the oo. In these sentences who, which and thatare the subject ofthe relative clause. For who, which and that as object see Units 110 and [11109.1 109.3 109 Exercises Identifying (A) Write the phrases to identify which one is meant. Use the shortest way of identifying, e.g. the tall boy, not the boy who is tall. the boy (he is all) -> thea boy the man (he has long hair) -> —thesman with long hair the woman (she plays golf) tle woman who plays golf 1 the young man (heisatthedoot) > 2 the boy (he sings in a pop group) > 3. the woman (she is very thin) — — 4 the gitl (she has green eyes) ae 3 the young lady (she is well dressed) -» | 6 the man (he works here) > es Relative clauses (A, B) Combine the information in these news items. Make the sentence in brackets into a relative clause, Use the atthe beginning of the sentence, eg. The man = Arman has gone to prison. (He shot two policemen.) —Theanuho shot poicemen as gonetoprion — 1 A bomb caused a lot of damage. (It went off this moming,) The bomb —_ —_ — = 2. A scientist has won the Nobel Prize. (He discovered a new planet) 3° A strike is over. (Itelosed Britain's docks) 4A footballer has been banned from playing again. (He took drags) 3. Alittle git has been found safe and well “(She had been missing since Tuesday.) 6 Some oilis five miles off the Scoush couse (espilled from a tanker)262 1 1 0 The relative pronoun as object who, which and that as subject and object A relative pronoun (who, which, that) can be the subject ofthe clause: The man who has bought the house comes fiom London. {he has bought the house) The photo which took fst prize was ofa faraouse. (the photo took frst prize) The leer hat came this moming was fom my site. (che letter came this morning) For the difference between who, which and that, see Unie 109, A relative pronoun can also be the object ofthe clause: ‘The mare who you met yesterday is my fiend Beruard. (you met the man) Are these the cakes which Helen baked? isla = (Helen baked the eakes) The TY programme that we issed is epeated this evening. (we missed the TV programme) We do not use another pronoun (e.g. him) with the relative pronoun: NOT-rrthemawhe yormethin= NOT ~-rthecakeswhide Heler-baked thems Leaving out the relative pronoun ‘We can leave out the pronoun who, which or that wien itis the object, We often do this in spoken English ‘The man you met yesterday is my fiend Berard, (O® The man who you met ...) ‘The TV programme we missed is repeated this evening. (OR The TV programmte that we missed We don’t know the nave ofthe person the police are questioning. ‘The mistake Sarah made was fortunately not very serious ‘That jacket Tony always wears is falling to pieces, ‘We can also leave out who, which or that when they are the object of preposition (e.g. t0) The man I spoke to yesterday is my fiend Bernard. (See Unit 111) We do not leave outa relative pronoun when itis the subject: The man whe has bought the house comes fiom Landon who and whom In formal English, whom is sometimes used when the object i a person The person whom/who the police were questioning has now been released. Butin conversation whom is not very common. We normally leave out te pronoun, of We WE who: now tke woman (ako) you were talking 1110.1 110.2 110.3 110 Exercises . who and that as subject and object (A) Woite a sentence with who or that as subject of the undeslined pat. She's the secretary. ~ Who is? ~ That woman, She brought the parcel. The woman who brought de paces the secretary 1 The dog has been shot. ~ What dog? ~ Ie was chasing the sheep. The dog 2 The story was untrue, ~What story? ~ You know, ILupset everyone, The story 3 He'sa film producer. ~ Who is? ~ That man, He rang Lola, ihe man Now wiite a sentence with who or that as object of the underlined pact. © The shire doesn’t fit. ~ Which shirt? ~ Dave's. He bought it yesterday. The shire_that Dave bought yesterday doesn't 4 He's a millionaire. ~ Who is? ~ That man. Angela knows The wan 5. The vase was extremely valuable. ~ What vase? ~ You know. Peter broke it. I 6 Icsreally nice, ~ What is ~ The jacket. You wore it ast night, The jacket Leaving out the relative pronoun (B) ‘Complete ihe advertisements. Use relative clauses without a pronoun. 5 Fresho soap. Beautifil people use it, It's the soap beautiful people use, 1A Wellman car. You can afford it. I's 2. ‘Polo’. People want to see this film. I's 3. Jupiter chocolates. You'll enjoy them. They're 4 5 FFizzo cleaner. You cart trust it.I’ “Break” magazine. Clever people read it. t's Leaving out the relative pronoun (B) “Write the fall sentences. Where you see #, you may need to put in who, which or that Sometimes more than one answer is correct. The man ¢ paid for the meal was. friend of Mary's 1D. The school ¢ 1 attended had only one classroom dhool Lattended had only one classroom. 1 From here you can see the mountain # we climbed 2. Theman ¢ services my carisa keen fisherman 3. The detective lost the man ¢ he was following 4 thought I recognized che assistant # sold me the suit1 1 1 Prepositions in relative clauses (e.g. the letter I was looking for) A_ Preposition at the end A relative pronoun can be the object of a preposition: The restaurant which we nonmally go ti dosed fo deration ! (Wwe nonmally go to the restaurant) Lyound the letter that Iwas locking for. (Vas looking for the letter) These are the people that we went om holiday with last year (ve went on holiday with these people) {mn informal spoken English we normally put the preposition a the end of the relative clause. Compare the word order STATEMENT RELATIVE CLAUSE We go to the restaurant the restaurant which we go to Iwas looking for the lete. ‘he leter that Iwas looking for We often eave out the relative pronoun (e.g. which): The restaurant we normally go to is closed for deoration (OR The restaurant which we nonnally goto...) found the letter Tas looking for. (OR. the letter that 1 was looking for.) ‘These are the people we went on holiday with The concert you were eling me about is next week Tean't remember the nae of the hotel we stayed at Is this the colour you've finally decided on? ‘We do not use a pronoun (eg. it, them) after the preposition: NOT —Therestauraneswe nonmally go-to i¢iselosed NOT Fhese aethe peoplewe went onholiday-with hens B reposition at the beginning {n formal English the preposition can come at the beginning of the relative clause, before which or whom; Was thatthe restaurant to which you normally go? Elecironics is subject about which I know very ile What isthe evidence om which you base this cain? Mr Bellis the person from whom obtained the information For whom see also Unit 110C. ‘We cannot puta preposition before that or who: Elearonis i subject that Low litle about. NOT serasubject about thar Eknow-lle Mr Bellis the person who I obtained the information from, NOT rte person from who-L obtained the information111.1 111.2 111.3 111 Exercises Preposition at the end (A) Someone is showing their holiday photos toa tiend. Write sentences with relative clauses We stayed at this camp site. This the can stayed at. 1 sept in that tent ‘We walked up that hill We had a view of this beach, Alex and I went out in that boat. ‘We sailed from this harbour. ‘We landed on this island, went to this museum, ‘We got fiiendly with these people. Preposition at the end (A) Match the phrases and write the definitions. akitchen a cupboard someone travels to it sofa bed an instrament you can make holes with it a drill. apiece offurniture you can eithersit orsleep on it adestination \ a passage we keep valuable things in it a corridor theplace you cookin it amicrophone “a room people walk alongit asafe atool people speak into it ~A kitchen is a room you cook in, 1 2 3 4 6 2 1 2 3 4 6 Preposition at the beginning (B) ‘Some politicians are arguing, Rewrite their sentences using a preposition at the beginning of a relative clause, Remember that this makes the sentences sound formal. D Teannot agree with that statement. Dhabi. statement with which Lonot agree - = 1 Our party believes in that idea 2 Lam strongly opposed to that policy 3. Noone caresabout these people. 4 Your party should be ashamed of those mistakes, oe 5 The governmentis dealing with that problem.112.1 1 1 2 Relative patterns with whose, what and it whose . Look at these examples of relative clauses with whose: _Jeremy is the boy whse passport was out of date “The girl whose photo was in the paper lives in our street. Here whose passport means his passport, Jeremy's passport, and whose photo means her photo, a photo of the girl. Here are some more examples ‘Someone whose bicycle had been stolen was reporting it tothe police. ‘There were two players whose skill impressed everyone. ‘We use whose mainly with people. But sometimes it goes with other kinds of nouns: Which isthe European country whose economy is growing the fastest? Round the comer was a building whose windows were all broke. ‘Mary was looking after a dog whose leg had been broken in an accident, 112 Exercises who or whose? (A) You are reading.a crime story. One ofthe suspects has murdered the industrialist Max Howard. Use relative clauses with who or whose, Charles Paxton, the director— he quarrelled with Howard Charles is the director who quorreled with Heward, [Vera Stokes, the politician — her sister once worked for Howard Vora ic the politician whose sister one wevked fr Howard. — 1 Brian Reeves, the journalist his tape-recorder was stolen 2 Steve Wilshaw, the architect he kuiew Howard a chool 3. Rex Carter, the farmer— Howard bought his land _ 4 Lotise Hollins, the model—her name was in Howard's diary 5 Mark Delbray, the hwyer—he looked afer Howard'sinterssA 113 Introduction The use of relative clauses Relative clauses have different uses. Compate this conversation and news item: Sue: Art Gluckson has died Tom: Who? Sue: You know. The film star who played ‘the ship’s captain in ‘Iceberg’ ‘Tom: I don’t think Fve seen that. Sue: Yes, you have. It's the film we saw on TV the other night. Tom: Oh, Fremember ‘These clauses identify which film star and which film the speaker means. (See also Unit 109A.) Identifying clauses and adding clauses Compare: IDENTIFYING The woman who tackled the gunman was shot inthe leg, The river which flows through Hereford is the Wye, The picture which was stolen is worth thonsands of pound. ‘These clauses identify which one we mean, The clause who tackled the gunman tells us which woman. The clause which flows through Hereford tells us which river. Without the relative clause the sentence would be incomplete An identifying clause does not have ‘commas round it, ‘Most relative clauses are identifying. We use them both in speech and writing, + brackets=( >) ART CLUCKSON DIES The ator Art Gluckson, who started in films uch as ‘Volcano? and Teeberg”, has died after 4 long iluess. He was seventy-eight. Art Gluckson’s most famous ale was as the sient in the film “Black Hole’, which broke all bos office records These clauses add information about Art Gluckson and about ‘Black Hole’ ADDING ‘Mrs Debbie Clark, who tackled the gunman, was shot in the leg. The Wye (which flows through Hereford) is 4 beawtifl rver. This famous picture which was painted in 1960 ~ is worth thousands of pounds ‘These clauses add extra information to something already identified. The clause, who tackled the gunman, adds information about Mrs Clark, We can say the sentence on its own without the relative clause An adding clause has commas (or brackets oF dashes) round it.* ‘Adding clauses can be rather formal, We se them mainly in writing. They are common in news reports,c Relative pronouns Compare: IDENTIEVING In identifying clauses we can use who, whom, whose, which, or that: Pi sre Fhxow the peson who sere us The couple whom we invited havent come. The ma whose car was stolen had 0 stay the night, Towns which that atrac touts are ssually rovded and expensive. Sometimes we can leave out the pronoun (Gee Unit 110B}: The man (who) we saw yesterday is my neighbour. -Heave you seen the book (that) Iwas reading? A preposition usually goes at the end: What's the nave ofthe man you work for? Tan couldn't find the notebook he wrote new words in 113.2 Relative pronouns (C) ADDING In adding clauses we use who, whom, whose ot which (but Nor that): Andrew, who served us, isthe oumer of the restart ‘The Simpsons, whom we invited, haven't Mr Webster, whose car was stolen, had to stay the nig Stratford, which atracts many tourists, isthe lace where Shakespeare was bor. ‘We cannot leave out the pronoun (eg. whom, which) from an adding clause: Jef, whom we saw yesterday, is my neighbour. That book ‘Brighton Rock’, which was reading, is relly good. A preposition can go befare the pronoun or atthe end ofthe clause ‘Mr Bone, fr whom Liz works isa very strange man, {OR iho Lie works for, J Jana a notebook, in which be wre new won (OR . which he wrote new words in.) Complete this advertisement, Put in who, whom, whose or which, Kerwricks © hid His at the hear ofthe Lake Distict, isthe perfect place fora holiday, and the Derwent Horel,! Peter and Debbie Jackson, 7 already won a reputation for excellence. far and wide, was once Young Chefof the owners treat almost as members of 5 113.3 Adding clauses (B, ©) the Year. The comfort of the guests, + the family, always comes first. Omar Sharif, nce stayed a the hotel, described it as ‘marvellous’, And the Lake District, thas so much wonderful scenery, will not disappoint you — overlooks the town, isthe perfect place to stay. bought this small hotel three years ago, have Peter, 3__ cooking attracts people from Rewrite this par of letter. Write the sentences in brackets as adding clanses “lve had a quict week. (certainly needed it) "Bob and Cheryl (You met them lst YEsE) were here al last week, *They'te now runninga computer software busines, (Ws doing very well) *Cheryl She studied programming at college.) writes the programs ‘Bob (His subject was business studies) handles the financial de. Sle explained i all to Marcin, (Martin isn't very interested in business) “On Saturday we went to ¢ Chinace restaurant, (Someone had recommended it) It was very yood ve had a quiet week, which L certainly 1113.4 Identifying clauses and adding clauses 8.0 Combine the two sentences using a relative classe. Some clauses need comms; some do not, Crossford has only two hundred inhabitants, [1 sacha suis sony ton ed inhabitants, ies fom anrehee — 5 Someone made the arrangements It was Keren Tie reson sla made the anaygememt was Kon, 1 Mr Perkins isa bit deaf, He couldn't hear the phone. Mr Perkins, ee — 2° StMichael’s Church dates from the Lath century. IPsa ine building. ee = 3. Someone's suitcase got lost. was Colin 4 Aroad leads to the frm, Itisn tsutable for cam © Diamond\is a very hard substance, leis ued for cutting, - —— 7 Someone gor everything ready, It was Kevin Someone knows all about ic. I's the secretary. 9 Mandy's name was missed offthe lst. She wasu't very pleased