What is a Relative Clause?
v A
relative clause is a phrase that adds information to a sentence.
v All
relative clauses describe a noun.
v They
begin with one relative pronoun or relative adverb.
Relative Pronouns
a.
who
(to describe people- subject)
The woman who works in the bank is my neighbor.
b.
whom
(to describe people- object)
My cousins, one of whom is a doctor, live in England.
c.
whose
(to describe possession)
The man whose car was stolen went to the police station.
d.
that
(to describe things- defining relative clauses)
I’m selling the computer that I bought in the U.S.
e.
which
(to describe things- non-defining relative clauses)
I’m selling this computer, which has a 250-GB hard drive, for NRP 55000.
Relative Adverbs
a.
When (to describe times)
My favorite season is Mangsir when all the leaves change color.
b.
Where (to describe places)
I visited the neighborhood where I grew up
c.
Why (to give a reason)
Do you know the reason why the stores are closed today?
Some sentences without
relative clauses:
v Yesterday
I met a fella. He works in the zoo.
v I
bought a tablet. It has internet access.
v There’s
the hotel. I ate at that hotel last night.
The same sentences are with relative clauses.
a.
Yesterday I met a fella who works in the
zoo.
b.
I bought a tablet that has internet
access.
c.
There’s the hotel where I ate last
night.
Definite versus Non-definite relative clauses
a.
Non-definite relative clauses add extra
information to the sentence.
b.
Definite relative clauses add essential
information to the sentence.
Differences
•
You can see if a relative clause is
definite or non-definite by removing it from the sentence.
•
If you remove a non-definite relative
clause, the sentence still has the same meaning.
•
If you remove a definite relative
clause, the sentence has a different meaning or is incomplete.
Examples of indefinite
relative clauses are:
•
My brother, who lives in Lamjung, is a
driver.
•
If you remove “who lives in Lamjung,”
the sentence still has the same meaning:
-My brother is a driver.
-The relative clause
“who lives in Lamjung” is extra information.
•
In written English, use a comma before
and after in-defining relative clauses.
Examples of definite
relative clauses are:
•
That is the student who failed English
class three times.
•
If you remove “who failed English class
three times,” the sentence is incomplete:
-That’s the student.
-Therefore, the
relative clause “who failed English class three times” is essential information,
because it defines which student, specifically, we are talking about.
•
I read all the books that I
borrowed from the library.
-Without clause:
I read all the books.
(Sentence is incomplete – What books?)
•
The new Stephen King book, which
I borrowed from the library, is very good.
–
Without clause:
The new Stephen King book is very good.
(Sentence is complete. The “library” part was only an extra detail)
•
Use which for non-definite
relative clauses, and use a comma before it. Use that for definite
relative clauses, and don’t use a comma before it.
Sentence Analysis
1.
The bananas that I bought on Monday are
rotten.
2.
The bananas, which I bought on Monday,
are rotten.
-In the first case,
it’s possible that we have two types of bananas in the house.
-In the second case,
all the bananas in the house were bought on Monday, and they are all rotten.