RELATIVE PRONOUNS

DEFINING RELATIVE CLAUSES – essentials to the clear understanding of the noun

The man has been arrested

The man who robbed you has been arrested

The computer was very expensive

The computer which we bought was very expensive

People
Subject - who, that
John and Kate are the couple who / that work in my office
Only those who had booked in advance were allowed in

Object - whom, who, that or no relative at all

The lady whom / who / that you helped to cross the street is a millionaire

With preposition
The person to whom you were talking is very famous
The person who / that you were talking to is very famous
The person you were talking to is very famous

Possessive - whose
This is the boy whose father is travelling around the world
The film is about a spy whose wife betrays him

Things
Subject - which, that
This is the shop which / that sells very cheap CDs

Object – which, that or no relative at all

The car which I hired broke down

With preposition
The ladder on which I was standing began to slip
The ladder which / that I was standing on began to slip
The ladder I was standing on began to slip

Relative adverbs
Places - where
Valencia is the city where Rodrigo was born
The hotel where (=in / at which) they were staying…

Time – when
The day when (=in which) he was born

Reason – why
The reason why he refused is…

NON-DEFINING RELATIVE CLAUSES – not essential in the sentence and can be omitted without causing
confusion

- they are separated from their noun by commas

- the pronoun can never be omitted
- more common in written than in spoken English
People
Subject – who
Peter, who had been driving all day, suggested stopping at the next town
Object – whom, who
Peter, whom everyone suspected, turned out to be innocent

With preposition – whom

Mr Jones, for whom I was working, was very generous about overtime payments
Mr Jones, who / whom I was working for, was very generous about overtime payments

Possessive – whose
Ann, whose children are at school all day, is trying to get a job

Things
Subject - which
London, which is the capital of England, attracts many foreign visitors.

Object – which
This cake, which I bought yesterday, tastes delicious

With preposition
His house, for which he paid 100,000 euro is now worth 200,000 euro
His house, which he paid 100,000 for, euro is now worth 200,000 euro

Possessive – whose
Terry, whose father is also a mechanic, has just repaired our car

What (relative pronoun) and which (connective relative)

We ate what we wanted (=the things that) – does not refer back to anything
I don’t know what to do

He said he had no money, which was not true – refer to a word or group of words in the preceding sentence

Recuerda

CLAÚSULAS ESPECIFICATIVAS PERSONA COSA

SUJETO Who/ That Which / That

OBJETO (Whom) (That)

CON PREPOSICION ....+ preposición ....+ preposición

POSESIVO whose of which

CLAÚSULAS EXPLICATIVAS PERSONA COSA

SUJETO -,who -, -,which-,

OBJETO - ,whom-, -,which-,

CON PREPOSICION -,preposición+whom, -,preposición+which,

POSESIVO -, whose -, -, of which-,

OMISIÓN DEL RELATIVO: En las relativas especificativas se puede quitar casi siempre, salvo en el
caso de que sea el relativo WHOSE o que el relativo vaya seguido de verbo. En las explicativas el
relativo no puede quitarse.

THAT sólo se puede poner en las relativas especificativas, y nunca puede ir detrás de una coma o una
preposición. Se recomienda su uso detrás de los cuantificadores (much, few, none, no, all, some, any y
sus compuestos) y los superlativos.

WHAT sirve para sustituir a "las cosas que" o "lo que". Muy a menudo las claúsulas que comienzan por
WHAT son también relativas.

ADVERBIOS RELATIVOS

LUGAR : WHERE = donde

TIEMPO : WHEN = cuando

CAUSA : WHY = por que