Explaining relative clauses: summary of all - E6-02W

Using ‘when’, ‘where’ and ‘why’ as relative pronouns.

 

Relative clauses are also possible using the following:

 

a) A noun related to time + ‘when’

 

I will never forget the moment when I first saw Helen.

There was a time when you could buy a basketful of groceries for £1.

 

b) A noun related to place + ‘where’

 

This is the church where we were married.

Market Street, where the market used to be, was renamed in the nineteenth century.

 

c) Reason + ’why’

 

No-one any longer remembers the reason why the old Market Street was renamed Cabbage Road.

 

Defining and non-defining relative clauses

 

A defining relative clause completes the idea, a non-defining one merely adds something extra to an already complete idea.

 

We usually stay at the sort of hotel which caters for local people.

 

We usually stay at the Hotel Splendide, which is owned by a distant cousin of my wife.

 

Defining clauses don’t have a comma in front of them, and they can use the pronoun ‘that’ instead of ‘who’ or ‘which’.

 

I don’t trust anyone that talks in an imitation posh accent like her!

 

Non-defining relative clauses can also be placed in the middle of a sentence, between commas, when we have two statements to make – about a noun which is usually, but not invariably, the subject both of the relative and of the main clause:

 

The Hotel Splendide, which is owned by a distant cousin of my wife, has wonderful views overlooking the valley of the River Tarn.

 

On the other hand, this information could be presented like this:

 

A distant cousin of my wife owns The Hotel Splendide, which has wonderful views overlooking the valley of the River Tarn.

 

 

Again, if we take the information contained in the sentence used in E3-05W

 

I’ve just seen the director, who has offered me a new job. - and re-organise it in a different way - we get:

 

The director, who (whom) I’ve just seen, has offered me a new job.

 

In this last case, in the non-defining clause in the middle, the relative refers to the OBJECT of the verb ‘have seen’ in the relative clause, so that in a formal style, ‘whom’ could just about be used, although it is now almost archaic in this type of usage.

NOTE 1) the relative ‘that’ could not be used in either of the last two (non-defining) relative clauses. 2) The question of how to organise and arrange information in a sentence is of great importance for writing, and we devote a separate explanation file to it.

 

Leaving out the relative pronoun

 

The rule we gave was: where the relative pronoun replaces a noun which is the subject of the verb in the relative clause, the relative CANNOT be left out:

 

I’ve just seen the director, who has offered me a new job.

I’ve just seen the director, has offered me a new job.

 

[The director has offered] - subject

 

‘What was the title of that book (that / which) you lent me?’

‘What was the title of that book (x) you lent me?’ ü

 

 [You lent the book] - object

 

As in the above case, in spoken English it would even be unusual in many cases to include the relative pronoun.

 

‘Whose’ as a possessive relative

 

I have an old friend. He loves gardening and country walks.

I have an old friend. His wife loves gardening and country walks.

 

These are combined using who and whose respectively:  

 

I have an old friend who (that) loves gardening and country walks.

I have an old friend whose wife loves gardening and country walks.

 

Similarly with which:

 

My friend’s garden is well-known in this part of England. It has a fountain and some old stone seats.

My friend’s garden is well-known in this part of England.  Its collection of rare plants is remarkable.

 

My friend’s garden, which has a fountain and some old stone seats, is well-known in this part of England

My friend’s garden, whose collection of rare plants is remarkable, is well-known in this part of England.

 

‘Which’ following a whole clause

 

The relative pronoun ‘which’ can be used to refer not just to a single noun, but to a whole clause, which then becomes the subject of the verb in the relative clause:

 

The weather was exceptionally cold that winter, which had not been predicted by the meteorological office.

The boy started swearing at the teacher, which was obviously not acceptable behaviour in the classroom.