Subject and Object Relative Clauses

Липецк

Погорелова И.В., Стурова Е.А. Синтаксические особенности английского языка:учебное пособие по практике для студентов 3 курса английского отделения факультета иностранных языков / И.В. Погорелова, Е.А. Стурова. – Липецк: ЛГПУ, 2011. – 102 с.

Пособие представляет собой комплекс учебных материалов, предназначенный для освоения дисциплины "Синтаксические особенности английского языка". Рекомендовано для работы на дневном и заочном отделениях.

CLAUSES

RELATIVE CLAUSES

Relative clauses serve as an attribute to some noun or pronoun in the principal clause. This noun or pronoun is called an antecedent ["æntI'si:dənt]. Relative clauses are often indicated by who (for people), which (for things) and that (for both), or introduced asyndetically, i.e. without any connectives (contact clauses). That refers to people in an informal style.

e.g. Have you ever spoken to the people who / that live next door?

e.g. There's a programme on tonight which you might like.

Subject and Object Relative Clauses

The noun which is being described by a relative clause can be either the subject or the object of the relative clause:

e.g. The man [who normally works here] is ill. (= he normally works here) [He is the subject, so this is a subject relative clause]

e.g. The man [who yousaw yesterday] is ill. (= you saw him yesterday) [Him is the object, so this is an object relative clause]

Relative clauses may be of two kinds: limiting (or defining) and descriptive (or non-defining).

Limiting clauses limit and define more clearly the antecedent, i.e. they explain (= define) exactly who or what is being discussed. The limiting clause is placed immediately after the noun, which it describes, and is not separated from the rest of the sentence by comma:

e.g. I was talking to a person who had worked with my father.

e.g. The car that I wanted to buywas too expensive.

Descriptive clauses give additional information about the subject being discussed, but it is not essential information. They may be omitted without affecting the precise understanding of the sentence as a whole. They are indicated by the use of comma before and after the clause:

e.g. This is Ms Rogers, who's joining the firm next week.

e.g. In 1908 Ford developed his Model T car, which sold for $500.

The difference between the limiting and the descriptive clauses is important because:

· They can change the meaning of a sentence

e.g. I have two sisters who are living in New York at the moment. (limiting) = I have more sisters who live somewhere else

e.g. I have two sisters, who are living in New York at the moment. (descriptive) = These are my only sisters and now they are in new York

· Different relative pronouns (who, that, which, etc.) are used for defining or non-defining clauses

Contact clause is a relative limiting clause without who, that or which. Then the two parts of the sentence are more closely joined together.

e.g. Have you seen the dress that I’ve just bought? (Limiting clause) → Have you seen the dress I’ve just bought? (Contact clause)

Who, That, or Which?

Notes:

1. We can also use whom instead of who as an object, although whom is very formal:

e.g.She’s an actresswhommost people think is at the peak of her career.

2. We use that as subject after every(thing), some(thing), any(thing), no(thing), only,words such as all, little, few, much and none used as nouns, and superlatives. Which is also used as subject after something and anything, but less commonly. We use that or zero relative pronoun as object after these:

e.g.These walls are all that remain of the city. (not: …all which remain…)

e.g. She’s one of the kindest people (that) I know. (not: …who I know.)

e.g. Is there anything (that) I can do to help? (rather than: … anything which I

can do…)

3. We can’t add a subject or object to the relative clause in addition to the relative pronoun:

e.g. The man who gave me the book was the librarian. (not: The man who he gave

me…)

Notice also that adding a pronoun to the main clause in addition to the relative clause is unnecessary, although it is found in speech:

e.g. A friend of mine who is a solicitor helped me. (or, in speech: A friend of mine who is a solicitor – she helped me.)

4. In limiting relative clauses(only!)whichmay refer to the whole sentence:

e.g. He turned on the television which looked new and expensive. [‘which’ refers to the television]

e.g. He turned on the television. I thought this was rather surprising. →

He turned on the television, which I thought was rather surprising.

[‘which’ refers to the action of turning on the television]