Relative clauses

Relative clause—also called an adjective or adjectival clause
It contains a subject and verb.

1. RELATIVE CLAUSE ADJECTIVE CLAUSE By Maryam Mazaheri

2. DEFINITIONS R elative clause—also called an adjective or adjectival clause It contains a subject and verb. It begins with a relative pronoun [who, whom, whose, that, or which,…] . I t functions as an adjective, answering the questions What kind? How many? or Which one? We use who and whom for people, and which for things . We use that for people or things . We use relative pronouns to introduce relative clauses, which tell us more about people and things.

3. Pronouns

4. I met that Woman . “ met “ is verb So We met someone or something Yes? Someone or something is the object Yes? As a result Woman is the object

5. across the road. She lives She is the subject Yes ?

6. Now Watch out ! I met that woman . She lives across the road. Yes? She refers to ? The Woman

7. I met that woman . She lives across the road. We want to link these two sentences. I met that woman she lives across the road. Something weird ?

8. I met that woman she lives across the road. She refers to? Woman Subject Logically we have to omit “she” . What is the role of “she” in the second sentence? I met that woman who lives across the road. She is replaced by “Who” So The role of “who” is subject.

9. Same situation for the “ Object ” I met that woman . My boss invited her to the party. Link two sentences : I met that woman my boss invited her to the party. Her refers to the woman. L ogically we have to omit “her” and use “ who “ instead of “her”. The role of “who” is Object. Object pronoun

10. Relative pronouns functions

11. Examples Do you see the cat which is lying on the roof ? (2 nd sentence : It is lying on the roof. It subject) He couldn’t read the book which I bought last week. (2 nd sentence : I bought it last week. It Object) I was invited by the professor whom I met at the conference . (2 nd sentence : I met him at the conference. It subject) I don’t like the table that stands in the kitchen . (2 nd sentence : It stands in the kitchen. It subject)

12. She is the woman who my boss invited to the party last week. She is the woman whom my boss invited to the party last week . ( who is informal and whom is formal) I met the woman who lives across the road. I met the woman whom lives across the road . ( who is the subject and whom can NOT be the subject) SO Who and Whom Who : informal / subject/object Whom : formal / object

13. Relative pronouns as the object of a preposition She is the woman about whom I told you. The music to which we listened was good. She is the woman that I told you about . The music that we listened to was good. She is the woman I told you about. The music we listened to was good. She is the woman who I told you about . The music which we listened to was good. NOTE : only which and whom are used after preposition.

14. Whose I know the man. His bicycle was stolen . I know the man whose bicycle was stolen. NOTE : whose can Not be omitted. Where The building where he lives is very old. The building in which he lives is very old. The building which he lives in is very old. The building that he lives in is very old. The building he lives in is very old . NOTE : preposition is NOT used with where.

15. When I will never forget the day when I met you. I will never forget the day on which I met you . I will never forget the day that I met you . I will never forget the day I met you . NOTE : preposition is not used with when.

16. To be continued…