RELATIVE CLAUSES


Relative clauses

A)  Different clauses

“The student who loved English came from France.”
Where is the relative clause? "who loved English" What is its antecedent?   'the student"
 
Compare with:
“The student, who loved English, came from France”.

Which difference(s) do you notice?

The first one is necessary to understand what / who you are talking about: it is a defining clause / the second one is a non-defining clause.

B)  Different pronouns
1)   Subject or object ?

1.   She is the journalist who wrote the story _S _ _
2.   The girl whom he killed was his wife's daughter._O _ _ _
3.   The language Ø  they spoke was difficult._ __O _ _
4.   The short story which I read was on the blog._ _O _ _ _

2)   which antecedent ?

Complete with : who, whom, which, that , 
a)    If the pronouns are subjects :




human antecedent


Ex: the girl who/ that__     was looking for information was young.

EX2: the girl,_who_ spoke English, was brave.


non-human antecedent


EX: The words  which/ that  were scary were uttered by the girl.
EX2: The text, __which is on the blog, deals with love.


b)   if the pronouns are objects :


human antecedent

The student  that / who/ whom/
you heard before is Tim.
NB : The student,  who/ whom      you heard before, is Tim. (no that, no  Ø  if it is a non-defining clause )

non-human antecedent
The text ___that/ which/ _______ you read earlier is  a tragedy…

The document, __which____ you read earlier, is a tragedy. (non-defining)
Going further

1)  whose
Observe: The man, whose car was sold, should be arrested....
We could also write: The man should be arrested :
 ___HIS___ car was sold
What can you infer about “whose”?
possessive meaning

2)  , which
We can go out, which is great news.

What does  “,which” refer to?
It refers to " we can go out"

3)  What
They said what the teacher expected.
Rephrase “what”?

They said      the answer that/ the things that..._______________________________________      the teacher expected

NB: How would you translate “tout ce que”? all that

 

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