Grammar - Relative Clauses

 Índice

1. Warm-up

1.1. Relatives. Classify them in the following categories: people, things, place, time, possession

1.2 Relatives. Match the relatives with their uses.

1.3 Grammar Rules

2. Practice

2.1 Complete the sentences with the correct relative pronoun

2.2 Choose the correct relative pronoun


2.3 Choose the correct relative pronoun

 

3. Assessment

3.1 Combine the sentences using a relative clause

1. WARM-UP

1.1. Relatives. Classify them in the following categories: people, things, place, time, possession.

1.2 Relatives. Match the relatives with their uses.
 

1.3 Grammar

Relative Pronouns

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

Relative Adverbs

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

Relative Clauses

Hay dos clases de oraciones subordinadas de relativo: especificativas(“defining”) y explicativas(“non-defining”):

Defining- Especificativas

Son las que no se pueden eliminar sin que la oración se resienta en su sentido, la explicación es necesaria para el entendimiento de la frase. Ejemplo: “The man that is going to marry Mary is called Bruce” (“El hombre que va a casarse con Mary se llama Bruce”). El pronombre relativo puede omitirse cuando cumple la función de objetode su oración. Dichos pronombres, dependiendo de la función que realicen, son:

		FUNCIÓN
		Sujeto	Objeto o complemento directo	Complemento del nombre
PRONOMBRES A EMPLEAR	Persona	who that	who / whom that Ø	whose
	Cosa	which that	which that Ø	of which (whose)

“Whom” debe utilizarse siempre que vaya detrás de una preposición; en los demás casos (excepto en inglés formal, o sea, en libros, periódicos…) suele utilizarse 'who'.

“That” se puede usar tanto para la función de sujeto como la de objeto, así como para personas y cosas. También se puede omitir cuando el sujeto de la oración principal es distinto al de la subordinada de relativo. Ejemplo: “She is not the girl (that) I know” (“Ella no es la chica a la que conocí”).

Cuando el antecedente es la palabra “people” sólo se admite “who” como relativo.

Non-defining- Explicativas

Son aquellas que nos dan más información, pero ésta no es necesaria para comprender su sentido. Por tanto, pueden eliminarse sin que la oración se resienta. Suelen ir entre comas. Ejemplo: “Bruce, who is going to marry Mary, is a car selesman” (“Bruce, que va a casarse con Mary, es vendedor de coches”). Son introducidas por un pronombre relativo, que no puede omitirse y que vendrá determinado por la función del nombre al que sustituyen:

		FUNCIÓN
		Sujeto	Objeto o complemento directo	Complemento del nombre
PRONOMBRES A EMPLEAR	Persona	who	who / whom	whose
	Cosa	which	which	of which [whose]

En las “non-defining”, en lugar de “that” se pone“which” o “who”, según la naturaleza

2. PRACTICE

2.1 Complete the sentences with the correct relative pronouns

3. ASSESSMENT

3.1 Complete the sentences with the correct relative pronoun