Relative clauses
RELATIVE CLAUSES
A clause is a part of a sentence. A relative clause, like an adjective, gives us more information about a noun. We usewho in a relative clause when we are talking about people. When we are talking about things, we use that or which.
When who / that / which is the object of the clause, you can leave it out. So you can say:
The dress Mary bought doesn't fit her very well.
OR
The dress that Mary bought…
Is there anything I can do?
OR
Is there anything that I can do?
Whose / whom / where
We use whose mostly for people:
A few days ago I met someone whose brother I went to school with.
Compare who and whose:
I met a man who knows you.
I met a man whose sister knows you.
Whom is used instead of who when it is the object of the verb in the relative clause.
The woman whom I wanted to see was away on vacation.
We also use whom with a preposition (to whom / from whom / with whom etc.):
The woman with whom he fell in love left him after a few weeks.
But we do not often use whom.
In spoken English we usually prefer who or that, or nothing.
So we usually say:
The woman he fell in love with…
The woman who / that he fell in love with…
Where can be used in relative clause to talk about a place:
I recently went back to the town where I was born. (or …the town I was born in. or …the town that I was born in.)
2 types of relative clauses
There are two types of relative clauses. Ones we do not use commas (,) and the others we use commas (,).
Compare them:
Defining / Non-Defining
The woman who lives next door is a doctor.
My brother George, who lives in Los Angeles, is a doctor.
Paula works for a company that makes washing machines
Joshua told me about his new job, which he's enjoying very much.
We stayed at the hotel (that) Mary recommended to us.
We stayed at the Grand Hotel, which Mary recommended to us
In the examples of defining clauses, the relative clause tells you which person or thing (or what kind of person or thing) the speaker means.
In the examples of non-defining clauses, the relative clauses do not tell you which person or thing the speaker means.
In both types of relative clauses we use who for people and which for things.
But :
In defining clauses you can use THAT :
Paula works for a company which / that makes washing machines.
In non-defining clauses you cannot use THAT:
Joshua told me about his new job, which he's enjoying very much.
In defining clauses you can leave out THAT / WHO / WHICH when it is the object:
We stayed at the hotel (that / which) Mary recommended.
In non-defining clauses you cannot leave out WHO pr WHICH :
We stayed at the Grand Hotel, which Mary recommended to us.
In both types of clauses you can use whose and where:
We met some people whose car had broken down.
Sue, whose car had broken down, was in a very bad mood.
What's the name of the place where you spent your vacation?
Mrs. Smith is going to spend a few weeks in Canada, where her daughter lives.
Prepositions + whom / which
In non-defining clauses you can use a preposition before whom (for people) and which(for things).
Mr. Jones, with whom I spoke on the telephone last night, is very interested in our plan.
Fortunately we had a map, without which we would have got lost.
In spoken English we often keep the preposition after the verb in the relative clause. When we do this, we normally usewho.
Mr. Jones, who I spoke with last night, is very interested in our plan.
We can also use a quantifier with this construction, for example:
none of /neither of / either of/ some of /many of / much of / a few of / both of / half of / each of / one of / two of
Jerry tried on three jackets, none of which fit him.
Two men, neither of whom I had ever seen before, came into my office.
They've got three cars, two of which they never use.
Amy has a lot of friends, many of whom she was at school with.