1 The sentence

1.6 The complex sentence: relative pronouns and clauses

1.6A Relative pronouns and clauses [> LEG I .25-38]

Introduction to relative clauses

Suppose you want to write a paragraph like this:
The house we moved into is absolutely beautiful. The people who lived here before us took
very great care of it. The garden, which is quite small, is lovely. I'm glad we moved. I don't
think we'll ever regret the decision we made.
If we want to speak or write like this, we have to master relative clauses. We introduce relative
clauses with these relative pronouns: who, who(m), which, that and whose.

'Who', 'which' and 'that' as subjects of a relative clause [> LEG 1.27-31]
We use who or that to refer to people. We use them in place of noun subjects or pronoun
subjects (/, you, he, etc.) and we cannot omit them.
They do not change when they refer to masculine, feminine, singular or plural:
He is the man/She is the woman who/that lives here. (Not *He is the man who he ... *)
They are the men/the women who/that live here. (Not 'They are the men who they ...*)
We use which or that (in place of noun subjects and it) to refer to animals and things:
That's the cat which/that lives next door. Those are the cats which/that live next door.
Here's a photo which/that shows my car. Here are some photos which/that show my car.

Write: Join these sentences using who or which. (All of them will also join with that.)
1 He's the accountant. He does my accounts. .He's H . the
^ f account
. . М Ш who
М ^ does
Т ^ .my
.Жaccount
ха..ту..а^^шШ
2 She's the nurse. She looked after me She's the nurse who looked after me.
3 They're the postcards. They arrived yesterday They're the postcards which arrived yesterday
4 They're the secretaries. They work in our office Thy're the secretaries who work in our office
5 That's the magazine. It arrived this morning That's the magazine which arrived this morning
6 They're the workmen. They repaired our roof They're the workman who repaired our roof

1.6B 'Who(m)', 'which' and 'that' as objects of a relative clause [> LEG 1.33-34]

Study: 1 We use who(m) or that to refer to people. We use them in place of noun objects or object
та pronouns (me, you, him, etc.). We often say who instead of whom when we speak.
They do not change when they refer to masculine, feminine, singular or plural:
He's the man/She's the woman who(m)/that I met. (Not *He's the man that I met him. *)
They're the men/women who(m)/that I met. (Not 'They are the men that I met them. *)
However, we usually omit who(m) and that. We say:
He's the man/She's the woman I met. They're the men/They're the women I met.
2 We use which or that(in place of noun objects or it) to refer to animals and things:
That's the cat which/that I photographed. Those are the cats which/that I photographed.
That's the photo which/that I took. Those are the photos which/that I took.
However, we usually omit which and that. We say:
That's the cat I photographed. Those are the cats I photographed.
That's the photo I took. Those are the photos I took.

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 1.6 The complex sentence: relative pronouns and clauses

Write: Join these sentences with who(m), which or nothing. (All of them will join with that.)
1 He's the accountant. You recommended him to me. 1H j & .the
He's t f oaccountant
. O G c m ^who you recommended to me.
2 She's the nurse. I saw her at the hospital 2 She's the nurse who I saw at the hospital
3 They're the postcards. I sent them from Spain 3 They're the postcards which I sent from Spain
4 They're the secretaries who Mr Pym employed.
4 They're the secretaries. Mr Pym employed them
5 That's the magazine which I got for you yesterday
5 That's the magazine. I got it for you yesterday 6 They're the workmen who I paid for the job
6 They're the workmen. I paid them for the job 7 That's the dog which I saw at the dog show last week
7 That's the dog! I saw it at the dog show last week 8 They're the birds which I fed this morning
8 They're the birds. I fed them this morning

1.6C 'Who(m)', 'which' or 'that' as the objects of prepositions [> LEG 1.35-36]

Study: The position of prepositions in relative clauses is very important. We can say:
i**i
1 He is the person to whom I wrote. (Never *to who*) (very formal)
This is the pan in which I boiled the milk, (very formal)
2 He is the person who(m) I wrote to. This is the pan which I boiled the milk in.
3 However, we usually prefer to omit the relative and say:
He is the person I wrote to. This is the pan I boiled the milk in.

Write: Join each pair of sentences in three different ways.

1 He's the man. I sent the money to him. 4 He's the boy. I bought this toy for him.
aH &fà
He's & .man
the m Wwho
i . t QI sent
. H d kthe
^ Jmoney
. t e t â to a He's the boy who I bought this toy for
ь ^ßä
He's the man to whom I sent the money to . tob He's the boy to whom I bought this toy for
с He's the man I sent money to с he's the boy I bought the toy for.
2 She's the nursfe.-l gave the flowers to her. 5 That's the building. I passed by it.
a She's the nurse to whom I gave the flowers a That's the building which I passed by
b She's the nurse who I gave the flowers to b That's the building that I passed by
She's the nurse I gave the flowers to
с с This is the building which I passed by.
3 That's the chair. I sat on it. 6 They're the shops. I got these from them.
a That's the chair which I sat on a They're the shops in which I got these from
b That's the chair that I sat on b They're the shops that I got those from
This are the shops I got those from
с That's the chair I sat on с

1.6D Context
Write: Put in the right relative pronouns only where necessary.
A CHANCE IN A MILLION
Cissie, the woman 1 "WÍkQ. works in our office, wanted to phone Mr
Robinson, but she dialled the wrong number. The number2
=tAr-Rob¡ríson
^peaking.. she dialled turned out to be the number of a public call box in the street.
A man, 3 was passing at the time, heard the phone ringing
and answered it. 'Is that Mr Robinson?' Cissie asked. 'Speaking,' the
man answered. It turned out that the man 4 she was
speaking to was actually called Robinson and had just happened to be
passing the call box when she rang!

. just happened to be passing

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1 The sentence

1.7 The complex sentence: 'whose'; defining/non-defining clauses

1.7A 'Whose' + noun in relative clauses [> LEG 1.32,1.37]

Study: 1 We use whose in place of possessive adjectives (my, your, his, etc.) to refer to people.
l**l Whose does not change when it refers to masculine, feminine, singular or plural:
He's the man/She's the woman whose car was stolen. (Not *whose his car was stolen")
They're the people whose cars were stolen. (Not *whose their cars were stolen*)
2 We sometimes use whose in place of its to refer to things and animals:
That's the house whose windows were broken. (= the windows of which)
3 We can also use whose with prepositions:
He's the man from whose house the pictures were stolen, (formal)
He's the man whose house the pictures were stolen from.

1 He is the customer whose address I lost

Write: Join these sentences using whose.
2 She is the novelist whose book won first prize
1 He is the customer. I lost his address. 3 They are the children whose team won the match
2 She is the novelist. Her book won first prize 4 You are the expert whose advice we want
3 They are the children. Their team won the match 5 I'm the witness whose evidence led to his arrest.
4 You are the expert. We want your advice 6 She's the woman whose film was made in her house
5 I'm the witness. My evidence led to his arrest. .......'..:.*..;.*
6 She's the woman. The film was made in her house

1.7B Defining and non-defining clauses [> LEG I .26, I .29,1.31 -32,1.34-37]

Study: 1 When we write relative clauses with who, which or whose, we have to decide whether to use
ШЕ commas 'round the clauses' or not.
2 In sentences like:
I've never met anyone who can type as fast as you can.
The magazine which arrived this morning is five days late.
the relative clauses tell us which person or thing we mean. They give us essential information
which we cannot omit. We call them defining clauses because they 'define' the person or thing
they refer to. We never use commas in such sentences.
We never use commas with that in relative clauses:
I've just had a phone call from the people (that) we met during our holidays.
The wallet (that) you lost has been found.
3 In sentences like:
Our new secretary, who can type faster than anyone I have ever met, has completely
reorganized our office.
Time Magazine, which is available in every country in the world, is published every week.
the relative clauses add 'extra information'. If we take them out of the sentences, we won't
seriously change the meaning. We call these non-defining clauses (they do not 'define') and
we use commas before and after them.
4 Sometimes we have to decide when the information is 'essential' or 'extra' and we may or may
not use commas. We must decide this for ourselves:
He asked lots of questions,(,) which were none of his business(,) and annoyed everybody.
 1.7 The complex sentence: 'whose'; defining/non-defining clauses

Write: Add commas to the following sentences where necessary.

1 My husband,who is on a business trip to Rome all this week,sent me this postcard.
2 The person who told you that story didn't know what he was talking about.
3 Will the driver whose vehicle has the registration number PXB2140 please move it?
4 The author Barbara Branwell whose latest novel has already sold over a million copies will be
giving a lecture at the public library tomorrow.
5 The person you got that information from is my cousin.
6 The play Cowards which opens at the Globe soon had a successful season on Broadway.
7 Cowards is the name of the play which ran for over two years.
8 The thing that pleases me most is that I'll never have to ask for your help again.
9 The manager whom I complained to about the service has refunded part of our bill.
10 Sally West whose work for the deaf made her famous has been killed in a car accident.
11 We found it impossible to cross the river that had flooded after the storm.
12 I have just learned that the engine part which I need is no longer made.

1.7C Sentences with two meanings [> LEG 1.26]

Study: The use or omission of commas round relative clauses can sometimes affect the meaning:
(**] My wife, who is in Paris, will be returning tomorrow. Without commas, this could suggest that I
have another wife who is (or other wives who are) somewhere else!

Write: Say what these sentences mean a) without commas; b) with commas.
1 The test paper which everyone failed was far too difficult.

2 My brother who is in Canada is an architect.

1.7D Context
Write: Put in relative pronouns where necessary and commas where necessary.
THIS CHARMING PROPERTY ...
People 1 Wiw. tell the truth about the properties they are selling should be
given prizes for honesty. A house 2 is described as 'spacious' will be
found to be too large. Words like 'enchanting', 'delightful', 'convenient', 'attractive'
3
are commonly used all mean 'small'. The words 'small' and
'picturesque'4 are not so frequently used both mean 'too small'. A
'picturesque house' is one with a bedroom 5 is too small to put a bed in
and a kitchen 6 is too small to boil an egg in. My prize for honesty goes
to someone 7 recently described a house 8 he was selling in
the following way: 'This house 9 is situated in a very rough area of
London is really in need of repair. The house 10 has a terrible lounge and
a tiny dining room also has three miserable bedrooms and a bathroom 11
is fitted with a leaky shower. The central heating 12 is expensive to run is
unreliable. There is a handkerchief-sized garden 13 is overgrown with
weeds. The neighbours 14 are generally unfriendly are not likely to
welcome you. This property 15 is definitely not recommended is
ridiculously overpriced at £85,000.'
This charming property .

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