Relative pronouns

RELATIVE PRONOUNS

Relative clausesareusuallyintroducedby

arelative pronoun(usuallywho,which,that,
butwhen,where andwhose arealsopossible)
Withdefining relative clauseswecan
usewho orthat totalkaboutpeople.Thereisno
differenceinmeaningbetweenthese,though'who'
tendstobepreferredinmoreformaluse.

Shes the woman who cuts my hair.

Shes the woman that cuts my hair.
Wecanusethat orwhich totalkaboutthings.

Again,thereisnodifferenceinmeaningbetween
these,though'which'tendstobepreferredinmore
formaluse.
This is the dog that bit my brother.
This is the dog which bit my brother

Simplifyingdefiningrelativeclauses
Definingrelativeclausescanbesimplified,or

reduced,inseveralways:
Iftherelativepronounistheobjectoftheverbthen
itcanbeomitted:
This is the skirt that I bought in the sales.
This is the skirt which I bought in the sales.
This is the skirt I bought in the sales.

Inthissentenceskirtistheobjectoftheverb(buy).

Iisthesubject.Whentherelativepronounisthe
object,itcanbeomitted.
Notethatiftherelativepronounisthesubjectofthe
verbthenitcannotbeomitted:
This is the dog that bit my brother.
This is the dog which bit my brother.
BUTNOT

BUTNOT
This is the dog bit my brother.
Iftherelativeclausecontainstheverb'be'+anyof

thefollowingthenitcanbereduced:
(a)be+anadjectivephrase
The man who is interested in your car will telephone
later.
The man interested in your car will telephone later.
Notethatotherverbsarepossiblehereaswellas'be',
suchas'seem','look'and'appear'.

Notethatotherverbsarepossiblehereaswellas'be',

suchas'seem','look'and'appear'.
(b)be+aprepositionalphrase
The books which are on the table have been read.
The books on the table have been read.

(c)be+apastparticiple[apassiveform]
A person who has been tricked once is careful the

next time.
A person tricked once is careful the next time.
(d)be+apresentparticiple[acontinuousform]
The family who are living in the house are very
rich.
The family living in the house are very rich.

Englishteacher:VilsonShehu
-Seemoreat:
http://learnenglish.britishcouncil.org/en/grammar-reference/relativeclauses-defining-relative-clauses#sthash.8jKz3NP5.dpuf