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WHERE TO PUT THE PREPOSTITION IN A RELATIVE CLAUSE

February 18th, 2010 No comments

WHERE TO PUT THE PREPOSTITION IN A RELATIVE CLAUSE

There are often prepositions in relative clauses, and the relative pronoun is the object of the preposition. This means that the preposition can sometimes be omitted.

The preposition is normally placed at the end of the relative clause:

  • Is that the man (who) you arrived with?
  • Do you know the girl (that) John is talking to?

In formal or written English, the preposition is often placed before the relative pronoun, and in this case the pronoun cannot be omitted:

  • The person with whom he is negotiating is the Chairman of a large company.
  • It is a society to which many important people belong.

However, this is unusual in spoken English.

Examples

  • The jungle the tribe lived in was full of strange and unusual animals.
  • He liked the people that he lived with.
  • The tree under which they had their picnic was the largest and oldest in the park.
  • To the east of the city was a lake that many people went to on the weekend.
  • It was the river in which the children preferred to swim.

 

people object important went with
 liked Chairman many often lived preposition belong

However English preposition omitted

that formal that that preposition lake often animals
 picnic pronoun strange largest CLAUSE

There with
 oldest tree WHERE preposition full people lived normally girl PREPOSTITION preferred case east that placed

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How to form relative clauses

February 18th, 2010 No comments

DEFINING RELATIVE CLAUSES

As the name suggests, these clauses give essential information to define or identify the person or thing we are talking about. Obviously, this is only necessary if there is more than one person or thing involved.

Example

  • Dogs that like cats are very unusual.

In this sentence we understand that there are many dogs, but it is clear that we are only talking about the ones that like cats.

Punctuation

  • Commas are not used in defining relative clauses.

Relative pronouns

The following relative pronouns are used in defining relative clauses:

Person Thing Place Time Reason
Subject who/that which/that
Object who/whom/that/ which/that/ where when why
Possessive whose whose

Notes:

  1. The relative pronoun stands in place of a noun.

This noun usually appears earlier in the sentence:

The woman who/that spoke at the meeting was very knowledgeable.
Noun, subject of
main clause		 relative pronoun referring to ‘the woman’, subject of ‘spoke’ verb + rest of relative clause verb + rest of main clause
  1. Who, whom and which can be replaced by that. This is very common in spoken English.
  2. The relative pronoun can be omitted when it is the object of the clause
The woman that the man loved was living in New York.
Noun, subject of main clause relative pronoun, referring to ‘the woman’, object of ‘loved’ verb + rest of relative clause verb + rest of main clause.

(You can usually decide whether a relative pronoun is an object because it is normally followed by another subject + verb.)

4. Whose is used for things as well as for people.

Examples

  • The man whose car was stolen.
  • A tree whose leaves have fallen.

5. Whom is very formal and is only used in written English. You can use who/that, or omit the pronoun completely :

  • The doctor whom/who/that/ I was hoping to see wasn’t on duty.

6. That normally follows words like something, anything, everything, nothing, all, and superlatives.

Examples

  • There’s something that you should know.
  • It was the best film that I’ve ever seen.
  • A clown is someone who makes you laugh.
  • An elephant is an animal that lives in hot countries.
  • The plums that were in the fridge were delicious. I have eaten them.
  • Where are the plums (that) I put in the fridge?
  • Has anyone seen the book I was reading?
  • Nothing that anyone does can replace my lost bag.
  • Let’s go to a country where the sun always shines.
  • They live in the house whose roof is full of holes.

 

always identify referring there more anyone people
Examples

about rest

Notes

English understand pronouns that necessary about cats relative pronoun them
 usually subject relative RELATIVE Obviously dogs pronoun like Place ones verb verb

whose place were that Whose subject following followed pronouns

The words whomwhothat used elephant relative spoke whom this stolen
 whether Dogs plums clause

The clause

You whowhomthat That plums Thing object main English
 superlatives
Examples

whose that talking shines
 only sentence house name pronoun relative clause clause written York
Noun when anyone replaced relative whose everything roof verb there full was delicious clown clauses

Relative things lost relative whichthat book were very earlier that relative This bag
 rest film knowledgeable
Noun pronoun something used referring which have living spoken that that fallen

tree when country thing anything lives normally relative countries
 that that formal clause

duty

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