RELATIVE PRONOUNS

AND
RELATIVE CLAUSES
 RELATIVE PRONOUNS
● WHO refers to people
○ A baker is a person who makes bread
● WHICH refers to objects
○ A pen is an object which is used for writing
● THAT refers to people and objects
○ A baker is a person that makes bread
○ A pen is an object that is used for writing
 RELATIVE PRONOUNS
● WHOSE refers to possessions
○ This is the man whose daughter won the competition
● WHERE refers to places
○ A bakery is a place where you buy bread
● WHEN refers to time
○ This is the day when I got married
● WHY refers to reasons
○ And this is the reason why I like English
RELATIVE PRONOUNS
● WHOM refers to people. It is only used
after prepositions in formal structures
○ The person to whom I was talking yesterday
was my brother
○ The people on whom we depend on our first
years of life are our parents
 DEFINING RELATIVE CLAUSES
● Son oraciones de relativo que añaden información
esencial sobre el antecedente
○ The people who win the lottery at Christmas are
very happy
○ The hotel where we stayed last year wasn’t very
expensive
○ The novel that I’m reading at the moment is
interesting
 DEFINING RELATIVE CLAUSES
● Si el pronombre relativo NO es el sujeto de la frase
de relativo se omite.
○ The film (that) we like so much has won several awards
○ The film that has won several awards is great

○ The man (who) I met yesterday is my uncle

○ The man who is wearing a black jacket is my uncle
DEFINING RELATIVE CLAUSES: EXERCISES
● Relative pronouns
● Definitions
● Combine sentences
● Combine sentences
● Omit the relative pronoun
NON DEFINING RELATIVE CLAUSES
● Añaden información no necesaria o esencial sobre el
antecedente
○ Barack Obama, who is the president of the USA,
has passed a new law.
○ Spain, which is a European country, is undergoing a
severe economic crisis
○ The Ritz Hotel, where we stayed last week, is very
expensive
NON DEFINING RELATIVE CLAUSES
● Characteristics
○ La oración de relativo va siempre
entre comas
○ No se puede usar el pronombre
“that”
○ No se puede omitir el pronombre
relativo en ningún caso
NON DEFINING RELATIVE CLAUSES: EXERCISES
● Relative pronouns
● Combine sentences
● Order words
● Combine sentences
● Combine sentences
FORMAL AND INFORMAL STRUCTURES
● Formal structure: preposition + relative
(which for objects and whom for people)
○ That’s the trip in which I am interested
○ That’s the job for which you have applied
○ His mother is the person with whom he gets
angry most often
○ The manager is the person to whom we have
to complain
FORMAL AND INFORMAL STRUCTURES
● Informal structure: se omite el relativo y la
preposición va detrás de verbo o adjetivo
○ That’s the trip I am interested in
○ That’s the job you have applied for
○ His mother is the person he gets angry with
most often
○ The manager is the person we have to
complain to
 COMPARISON: FORMAL/ INFORMAL
STRUCTURES
● The man about whom we were talking
yesterday is here now
The man (who) we were talking about yesterday
is here now
● The English test, for which you are studying,
will be very easy
The English test, which you are studying for, will
be very easy
MIXED RELATIVES: EXERCISES
● Defining or non defining?
● Combine sentences
● Combine sentences
● A test