Relative Pronoun

POSSESSIVE RELATIVE PRONOUN

Similar to quantities, possessive (genitive) qualities can be used together with a relative pronoun in the adjective clause. These are usually which (things) or whose (things and people).

e.g. WE HAVE A SPANISH STYLE HOUSE. THE EXTERIOR OF THE HOUSE IS WHITE.
- WE HAVE A SPANISH STYLE HOUSE, “THE EXTERIOR OF WHICH” IS WHITE.
- WE HAVE A SPANISH STYLE HOUSE, “WHOSE EXTERIOR” IS WHITE. This is more common in American English.

e.g. SHE HAS JUST BOUGHT A NEW CAR, THE COLOR OF WHICH I HATE.
- SHE HAS JUST BOUGHT A NEW CAR, WHOSE COLOR I HATE.

e.g. THE COMPANY HIRED A NEW SALES MANAGER, WHOSE ATITUDE IS QUITE A ANNOYING.
- When talking about people, it is not common to use “which”.

Personal Pronouns

Unlike English nouns, which usually do not change form except for the addition of an -s ending to create the plural or the apostrophe + s to create the possessive, personal pronouns (which stand for persons or things) change form according to their various uses within a sentence. Thus I is used as the subject of a sentence (I am happy.), me is used as an object in various ways (He hit me. He gave me a book. Do this for me.), and my is used as the possessive form (That's my car.) The same is true of the other personal pronouns: the singular you and he/she/it and the plural we, you, and they. These forms are called cases. An easily printable chart is available that shows the various Cases of the Personal Pronouns.

Personal pronouns can also be characterized or distinguished by person. First person refers to the speaker(s) or writer(s) ("I" for singular, "we" for plural). Second person refers to the person or people being spoken or written to ("you" for both singular and plural). Third person refers to the person or people being spoken or written about ("he," "she," and "it" for singular, "they" for plural). The person of a pronoun is also demonstrated in the chart Cases of the Personal Pronouns. As you will see there, each person can change form, reflecting its use within a sentence. Thus, "I" becomes "me" when used as an object ("She left me") and "my" when used in its possessive role (That's my car"); "they" becomes "them" in object form ("I like them") and "their" in possessive ("That's just their way").

When a personal pronoun is connected by a conjunction to another noun or pronoun, its case does not change. We would write "I am taking a course in Asian history"; if Talitha is also taking that course, we would write "Talitha and I are taking a course in Asian history." (Notice that Talitha gets listed before "I" does. This is one of the few ways in which English is a "polite" language.) The same is true when the object form is called for: "Professor Vendetti gave all her books to me"; if Talitha also received some books, we'd write "Professor Vendetti gave all her books to Talitha and me." For more on this, see cases of pronouns.

When a pronoun and a noun are combined (which will happen with the plural first- and second-person pronouns), choose the case of the pronoun that would be appropriate if the noun were not there.

• We students are demanding that the administration give us two hours for lunch.
• The administration has managed to put us students in a bad situation.

With the second person, we don't really have a problem because the subject form is the same as the object form, "you":

• "You students are demanding too much."
• "We expect you students to behave like adults."

Among the possessive pronoun forms, there is also what is called the nominative possessive: mine, yours, ours, theirs.

• Look at those cars. Theirs is really ugly; ours is beautiful.
• This new car is mine.
• Mine is newer than yours.

Demonstrative Pronouns

The family of demonstratives (this/that/these/those/such) can behave either as pronouns or as determiners.
As pronouns, they identify or point to nouns.

• That is incredible! (referring to something you just saw)
• I will never forget this. (referring to a recent experience)
• Such is my belief. (referring to an explanation just made)

As determiners, the demonstratives adjectivally modify a noun that follows. A sense of relative distance (in time and space) can be conveyed through the choice of these pronouns/determiners:

• These [pancakes sitting here now on my plate] are delicious.
• Those [pancakes that I had yesterday morning] were even better.
• This [book in my hand] is well written;
• that [book that I'm pointing to, over there, on the table] is trash.

A sense of emotional distance or even disdain can be conveyed with the demonstrative pronouns:

• You're going to wear these?
• This is the best you can do?

Pronouns used in this way would receive special stress in a spoken sentence.
When used as subjects, the demonstratives, in either singular or plural form, can be used to refer to objects as well as persons.

• This is my father.
• That is my book.

In other roles, however, the reference of demonstratives is non-personal. In other words, when referring to students, say, we could write "Those were loitering near the entrance during the fire drill" (as long as it is perfectly clear in context what "those" refers to). But we would not write "The principal suspended those for two days"; instead, we would have to use "those" as a determiner and write "The principal suspended those students for two days."

Relative clauses

Types of relative clause

A relative clause is always used to join together two sentences that share one of their arguments. For example, the sentence "The man that I saw yesterday went home" is equivalent to the following two sentences: "The man went home. I saw the man yesterday." In this case, "the man" occurs as argument to both sentences. Note that there is no requirement that the shared argument fulfills the same role in both of the joined sentences; indeed, in this example, "the man" is subject of the first, but direct object of the second.

The two sentences joined in a relative-clause construction are known as the main clause or matrix clause (the outer clause) and the embedded clause or relative clause (the inner clause). The shared noun as it occurs in the main clause is termed the head noun. Languages differ in many ways in how relative clauses are expressed:

1. How the role of the shared noun phrase is indicated in the embedded clause.
2. How the two clauses are joined together.
3. Where the embedded clause is placed relative to the head noun (in the process indicating which noun phrase in the main clause is modified).

For example, the English sentence "The man that I saw yesterday went home" can be described as follows:

1. The role of the shared noun in the embedded clause is indicated by gapping (i.e. in the embedded clause "that I saw yesterday", a gap is left after "saw" to indicate where the shared noun would go).
2. The clauses are joined by the complementizer "that".
3. The embedded clause is placed after the head noun "the man".

The following sentences indicate various possibilities (only some of which are grammatical in English):

• "The man [that I saw yesterday] went home". (A complementizer linking the two clauses with a gapping strategy indicating the role of the shared noun in the embedded clause. One possibility in English. Very common cross-linguistically.)
• "The man [I saw yesterday] went home". (Gapping strategy, with no word joining the clauses—also known as a reduced relative clause. One possibility in English. Used inArabic when the head noun is indefinite, as in "a man" instead of "the man".)
• "The man [whom I saw yesterday] went home". (A relative pronoun indicating the role of the shared noun in the embedded clause — in this case, the direct object. Used in formal English, as in Latin, German or Russian.)
• "The man [seen by me yesterday] went home". (A reduced relative clause, in this case passivized. One possibility in English.)
• "The man [that I saw him yesterday] went home". (A complementizer linking the two sentences with a resumptive pronoun indicating the role of the shared noun in the embedded clause, as in Arabic, Hebrew or Persian.)
• "The man [that him I saw yesterday] went home". (Similar to the previous, but with the resumptive pronoun fronted. This occurs in modern Greek and as one possibility in modern Hebrew; the combination that him of complementizer and resumptive pronoun behaves similar to a unitary relative pronoun.)
• "The [I saw yesterday]'s man went home". (Preceding relative clause with gapping and use of a possessive particle — as normally used in a genitive construction — to link the relative clause to the head noun. This occurs in Chinese and certain other languages influenced by it.)
• "The [I saw yesterday] man went home". (Preceding relative clause with gapping and no linking word, as in Japanese.)
• "The man [of my seeing yesterday] went home". (Nominalized relative clause, as in Turkish.)
• "[Which man I saw yesterday], that man went home". (A correlative structure, as in Hindi.)
• "[I saw the man yesterday] went home." (An unreduced, internally-headed relative clause, as in Tibetan or Navajo.)

[edit]Strategies for indicating the role of the shared noun in the relative clause

There are four main strategies for indicating the role of the shared noun phrase in the embedded clause. These are typically listed in order of the degree to which the noun in the relative clause has been reduced, from most to least:

1. Gap strategy or gapped relative clause
2. Relative pronoun
3. Pronoun retention
4. Nonreduction

Connectors

A connector is a word that is used to join words or sentences.

And, as well as, but, or, yet, nevertheless, however, so that, as long as, while, until, as if, because, when, after, though, before.

• A boy and a girl
• An elephant and a giraffe
• A toy or a book
• The music was loud nevertheless it was enjoyable.
• Types of connectors

Coordinating conjunctions

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Coordinating conjunctions join together clauses of equal importance.

Some examples of coordinating conjunctions are - and, but, or,

Use of 'and'

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'And' is used as a conjunction when the words or phrases are of equal importance and both conditions exist. Other words that can be used in place of and are: moreover, in addition to, along with, plus, as well as, further more

• Tom and Harry play hockey.
• A lion and a fox live in this cave.
• We need some gloves and a ball in addition to bats.
• The soldiers rose moreover they cheered the leader.
• We found the thief along with the bags.
• The gurgling stream along with the howling wind added to the charm of the place.

Use of 'but'

The conjunction 'but' is used to show a contradiction between two phrases. Let's say the first phrase leads you to expect a certain event and the second phrase tells you quite a contradictory outcome. In such an event, but, is used.

Other words like: nevertheless, yet, however, can be used in place of 'but'

• He ran, but he missed the bus.
• She studied hard but could not score well in the test.
• The hill was very steep but the old man could climb it easily.
• Sharon fell from the horse nevertheless she did not cry.
• The lion was hungry yet it did not attack Androcles.
• He is from England however he speaks Chinese very well.

Use of 'Or'

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When we need to express a choice between two words or phrases we use 'or'. Here only one of the two conditions exists.

Example:

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Would you take a cup of tea or coffee?

Shall we buy a book or a toy?

Sit on the bench or on the grass.

Are you tired or shall we go out for a walk?

We can learn to talk English or we can depend on sign language.

Correlative conjunctions:

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Conjunctions used in pairs are correlative conjunctions

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Either..... or	Either Peter or John has taken the book.
Neither.....nor	It is neither hot nor tasty.
Both.....and	My sister is both smart and intelligent.
Whether..... or	Tell me whether you know the route or not.
Not only..... but also	Not only is she stupid but also stubborn.

Compound conjunctions

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Compound conjunctions are groups of words that behave like conjunctions.

In order that, on condition that, provided that, as soon as

Conjunction	Usage
In order that	I bought all the books in order that you may study
On condition that	The teacher excused him on condition that he would not repeat the mistake.
Even if	Sarah would not marry him even if he proposed to her.
So that	I kept away my work so that I could spend time with my daughters
Provided that	You can take leave provided that you work overtime later
As though	Rex behaves as though he is the boss.
As well as	Monica as well as veronica was present there
As soon as	Mr. Ford plans to pay off his loan as soon as he gets his bonus.
As if	It looks as if there is going to be a storm.

Subordinating conjunction

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A subordinating conjunction joins a clause to another on which it depends for its full meaning. The chief subordinating conjunctions are after, because, if, that, though, although, till, before, unless.

• I will not go to the market if it rains.
• The situation 'I will not go to the market' is dependant on the condition 'if it rains'.
• You could go and play after you have done the dishes.
• King Midas was unhappy because his daughter turned to gold.
• You must dig the earth till you find water.

Observe the use of connectors in these sentences.

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• Lydia likes to sing and dance when she is happy.
  
  
• We can paint our house red or white but we must select a good painter.
  
  
• Harry is intelligent however he is lazy. He must wake up or he will regret it.
  
  
• I left the party because I was bored, moreover it was quite late.
  
  
• He was sad and tired along with being very hungry when a wizard appeared and offered him food however he laid down some conditions.
  
  
• He is cheerful though he has worked the whole day.
  
  
• I allowed him in as I thought he was a friend but he tried to rob me.
  
  
• You will do well if you study hard.
  
  
• My daughters either watch TV or sleep on Sundays.
  
  
• Susan is very fat but very active.
  
  
• I met by friend in the park and invited her to tea.
  
  
• A student must obey or he may leave.
  
  
• Jane and Peter have been chosen to receive the guest.
  
  
• After the trip Sam came to work but he was very tired.
  
  
• Bring some sandwiches or you will be hungry.
  
  
• They jumped over the stream and ran home.
  
  
• The dog ran after the rabbit but could not catch him.
  
  
• My aunt is ill so I will visit her tomorrow.
  
  
• The show started as soon as the chief guest arrived.
  
  
• You will enjoy the concert since you love music.
  
  
• This horse will take you to the village you even if he is tired.
  
  
• He was rowing the boat while I slept.
  
  
• The bridge fell though it was made of stones.
  
  
• You will pass if you work hard.
  
  
• He will not try unless he is forced to.
  
  
• We will come after we complete the work.
  
  
• The old man cared for the puppy as though she was his baby.

The Relative Clause

How to Form Relative Clauses Level: lower intermediate

Imagine, a girl is talking to Tom. You want to know who she is and ask a friend whether he knows her. You could say:

A girl is talking to Tom. Do you know the girl?

That sounds rather complicated, doesn't it? It would be easier with a relative clause: you put both pieces of information into one sentence. Start with the most important thing – you want to know who the girl is.

Do you know the girl …

As your friend cannot know which girl you are talking about, you need to put in the additional information – the girl is talking to Tom. Use „the girl“ only in the first part of the sentence, in the second part replace it with the relative pronoun (for people, use the relative pronoun „who“). So the final sentence is:

Do you know the girl who is talking to Tom?

Relative Pronouns Level: lower intermediate

relative pronoun	use	example
who	subject or object pronoun for people	I told you about the woman who lives next door.
which	subject or object pronoun for animals and things	Do you see the cat which is lying on the roof?
which	referring to a whole sentence	He couldn’t read which surprised me.
whose	possession for people animals and things	Do you know the boy whose mother is a nurse?
whom	object pronoun for people, especially in non-defining relative clauses (in defining relative clauses we colloquially prefer who)	I was invited by the professor whom I met at the conference.
that	subject or object pronoun for people, animals and things in defining relative clauses (who or which are also possible)	I don’t like the table that stands in the kitchen.

Subject Pronoun or Object Pronoun? Level: lower intermediate

Subject and object pronouns cannot be distinguished by their forms - who, which, that are used for subject and object pronouns. You can, however, distinguish them as follows:

If the relative pronoun is followed by a verb, the relative pronoun is a subject pronoun. Subject pronouns must always be used.

the apple which is lying on the table

If the relative pronoun is not followed by a verb (but by a noun or pronoun), the relative pronoun is an object pronoun. Object pronouns can be dropped in defining relative clauses, which are then called Contact Clauses.

the apple (which) George lay on the table

Relative Adverbs Level: intermediate

A relative adverb can be used instead of a relative pronoun plus preposition. This often makes the sentence easier to understand.

This is the shop in which I bought my bike.
→ This is the shop where I bought my bike.

relative adverb	meaning	use	example
when	in/on which	refers to a time expression	the day when we met him
where	in/at which	refers to a place	the place where we met him
why	for which	refers to a reason	the reason why we met him

Defining Relative Clauses Level: lower intermediate

Defining relative clauses (also called identifying relative clauses or restrictive relative clauses) give detailed information defining a general term or expression. Defining relative clauses are not put in commas.

Imagine, Tom is in a room with five girls. One girl is talking to Tom and you ask somebody whether he knows this girl. Here the relative clause defines which of the five girls you mean.

Do you know the girl who is talking to Tom?

Defining relative clauses are often used in definitions.

A seaman is someone who works on a ship.

Object pronouns in defining relative clauses can be dropped. (Sentences with a relative clause without the relative pronoun are called Contact Clauses.)

The boy (who/whom) we met yesterday is very nice.

Non-Defining Relative Clauses Level: upper intermediate

Non-defining relative clauses (also called non-identifying relative clauses or non-restrictive relative clauses) give additional information on something, but do not define it. Non-defining relative clauses are put in commas.

Imagine, Tom is in a room with only one girl. The two are talking to each other and you ask somebody whether he knows this girl. Here the relative clause is non-defining because in this situation it is obvious which girl you mean.

Do you know the girl, who is talking to Tom?

Note: In non-defining relative clauses, who/which may not be replaced with that.

Object pronouns in non-defining relative clauses must be used.

Jim, who/whom we met yesterday, is very nice.

How to Shorten Relative Clauses? Level: intermediate

Relative clauses with who, which, that as subject pronoun can be replaced with a participle. This makes the sentence shorter and easier to understand.

I told you about the woman who lives next door. – I told you about the woman living next door.

Do you see the cat which is lying on the roof? – Do you see the cat lying on the roof?

sertifikat