Relative clauses Sentences that give an explanation
Who, whose, which, that, where, when 1. The man ___________ helped the children was a fireman. 2. The wave _____________ saved me threw the carriage to a higher ground 3. I remembered everything ___________ I needed to stay calm. 4. I will always remember the year _________ I visited Australia. 5. Death Valley is a desert ______________ many people have died due to the extremely high temperatures. 6. The families ______________ children died in last year’s earthquake will never recover from the trauma.
Relative pronouns and their referals Relative pronounReference WhoA person WhichA thing or an animal ThatBoth (restrictions apply) WhosePossession WhereA place (as long as it answers the question “where”) WhenA time
More details about relative clauses and pronouns The relative pronoun can be omitted when it’s not the subject of the relative clause: The girl (who) I saw yesterday was my ex-girlfriend. The exercises (which) our teacher gave us are very difficult. Non-defining: they are separated with commas. They give some dispensable information. They don’t admit “that” or any omission. That boy, who I met the other night, is very strange. This country, about which our teacher has told us a lot, sounds really interesting.
REPHRASING APPLICATION We will always find two juxtaposed sentences, separated by a full stop: “I met a woman the other day. I didn’t recognise her.” We must identify the two elements which are repeated in both sentences: “I met a woman the other day. I didn’t recognise her.” According to the reference, we must use one or another relative pronoun. I met a woman who I didn’t recognise the other day. When we find a possessive in the second sentence, we must remember to use “whose”. “The woman had a nervous breakdown. Her house was vandalized.” “The woman whose house was vandalized had a nervous breakdown.”