Prof.

Ayleen Trujillo Ruiz

 TRIVIA SENTENCE BUILDING CHALLENGE

Expand the following sentences by adding information, but without changing any of the
words of the original sentences.

E.g. The Amazon is in South America.

The Amazon, which is a river, is in South America.
 TRIVIA SENTENCE BUILDING CHALLENGE

a. Michael Jordan played for the Chicago Bulls.

b. Alexander Fleming discovered penicilin.
c. Paella is the national dish of Spain.
d. The Pyramids of Giza are located in Egypt.
e. The Spice Girls was an iconic 90’s British girl group.
f. Sean Connery played James Bond in seven movies.
g. A ladybug symbolizes good luck in Europe.
h. The Shakespeare Globe is located in London.
i. Catherine de Aragon was Henry VIII’s first wife.
j. Bonsais are the smallest type of trees in the world.
We use relative clauses (RC) to join two sentences, or to give more information about something.

I bought a new car. The car is very fast.

I bought a new car that is very fast.

She lives in New She likes living in New

York. York.
She lives in New York, which she
likes.
 RC are clauses starting with the relative pronouns or adverbs who, that, which, whose,
where, when.

They are most often used to define or identify the noun that precedes them.

E.g. Do you know the woman who got hired last week?

Can I have the book that you borrowed yesterday?

Yesterday was the day when everything went

perfect!
I want to work in a place where people are honest.

A notebook is a computer which can be carried

around.
Relative pronouns are associated as follows with the preceding
noun:
Preceding noun Relative pronoun
A person who (m)
that
whose

A thing which
that
whose

The relative pronoun “whose” is used in place of the possessive pronoun. It must be
followed by a noun and it is never omitted.
Relative adverbs:

• When / that to refer to time (can be omitted)

That was the year (when / that) I graduated from High School.

• Where to refer to a place (can be omitted)

The University where I studied was ranked as one of the best in the region.

• Why to refer to a reason (why can be

omitted)
The reason (why) she left is still unknown.
DEFINING RELATIVE CLAUSES
A defining RC tells which noun we are talking about. If a defining RC is removed, the meaning of the
sentence changes significantly. It is not separated from the rest of the sentences by commas or parentheses.
E.g. I like the woman who lives next door.
This is a book whose author won a Nobel Prize!

1. When the relative pronoun is the subject of the clause, the RC can come after the subject or the object of
the sentence. We cannot drop the relative pronoun.

I am looking for a secretary who / that can use a computer well. She has a son who is a doctor.
object object

The people who live next door are very friendly. The man that phoned you is my cousin.
subject subject
DEFINING RELATIVE CLAUSES

2. When the relative pronoun is the object of the clause, we can drop the relative pronoun, if we want to.
Again, the clause can come after the subject or the object of the sentence

We went to see the play (which / that) you recommended.

object
He loved the wine (which / that) I bought.
object
The doctor (who / that) my grandma likes works in this hospital.
subject

The bike (which / that) I loved was stolen.

subject
NON-DEFINING RELATIVE CLAUSES
Some RC are not used to define or identify the preceding noun, but to give extra information about it. We
don’t need this information to understand the sentence. If we remove it, we lose some detail, but the overall
meaning of the sentence remains the same.
London, where my parents live, is a place with amazing landmarks.
“Where my parents live” is not necessary to understand the sentence.

This type of RC must be separated off by commas or parentheses.

William Shakespeare, who wrote Hamlet, was born in England.

extra information My father’s company, which makes computers, is hiring new peo
separated off by commas
NON-DEFINING RELATIVE CLAUSES

We do not use that in this type of clauses, so we need to use which if the pronoun refers to a thing, and
who if it refers to a person.

Neil Armstrong, that was born in 1930, was the first man to stand on the
moon.
We cannot drop the relative pronoun in this kind of clause, even if the relative pronoun is the subject of the
clause.
I really loved the new restaurant, which we went to last night.

clause after object

My boss, who is very nice by the way, lives is Manchester.

clause after subject

NON-DEFINING RELATIVE CLAUSES
There are two common occasions, particularly in spoken English, when the relative pronoun is
omitted:
1- When the pronoun is the object of the RC
Do you know the boy (who / whom) Laura is talking to?

Where is the notebook (which) I gave you yesterday?

You cannot omit the relative pronoun:

a.If it starts with a non-defining RC, or
b.If it is the subject of a defining RC

What is the name of the girl who won the tournament?

NON-DEFINING RELATIVE CLAUSES
2- When the RC contains a present or past participle and the auxiliary verb to be. In such cases both the
relative pronoun and the auxiliary can be left out:

Who’s that man (who is) standing at the gate?

The girls (that are) living next door come from Canada.

Most of the people (who were) invited to the conference didn’t come.

Anyone (that is) caught making graffiti will go to jail.

PREPOSITIONS AND RELATIVE CLAUSES

If the verb in the RC needs a preposition, we put it at the end of the clause:

E.g. Listen to

The music is not very good. Teenagers listen to the music.

The music (which / that) teenagers listen to is not very good.

Go to

The city is very hot in summer. My brother went to the city.

The city (which / that) my brother went to is very hot in summer.