Transcript Relative Clauses


Son oraciones subordinadas adjetivas porque:
◦ Son parte de una oración principal
◦ Funcionan como un adjetivo.
◦ El nexo es un pronombre relativo.
Supongamos la oración simple:
The TALL man came yesterday
Adjetivo
 The man came yesterday.
 The man is tall.
The TALL man came yesterday
Adjetivo
Aquí hay dos ideas sobre un mismo elemento: The man
 The man came yesterday.
 The man is tall.
En lugar de poner un
adjetivo delante del
nombre, podríamos unirlas
de la siguiente manera:
The man WHO is tall came yesterday
1.2.3.4.5.-
Donde:
El nexo de relativo WHO = THE MAN
The man came yesterday es la oración principal
WHO is tall es la de relativo
WHO es el pronombre nexo de relativo
The man es el antecedente.

La oración
The man WHO is tall came yesterday
es una oración poco probable porque podemos reducir la
parte “WHO IS TALL” a un solo adjetivo “TALL”, con lo que
simplificamos, y por lo tanto preferimos decir:
The tall man came yesterday
Sin embargo, si queremos unir estas dos informaciones
1.- The man came yesterday
2.- The man bought the red car.
en una sola oración, no podemos usar un adjetivo que
exprese una idea tan compleja como “The man bought the
red car”, y entonces se hace necesario utilizar la oración de
relativo:
The man WHO BOUGHT THE RED CAR came yesterday.
Dado que las oraciones de relativo son informaciones sobre
un sustantivo (ANTECEDENTE), aquéllas siempre irán
inmediatamente detrás de éste, y el orden de dichas
oraciones siempre será
ANTECEDENTE +
This is THE MAN
PRONOMBRE
RELATIVO
THAT
+ ORACIÓN DE
RELATIVO
I SAW YESTERDAY
Hay dos tipos de Relative Sentences, dependiendo del
carácter del antecedente, lo que determinará la función de la
oración de relativo.
Non-defining:
My father, who is 47, likes football very much.
CARACTERÍSTICAS:
- Si quitamos la oración de relativo who is 47, el antecedente
sigue estando definido.
- Van entre comas.
- Siempre llevan el nexo de relativo (WHO, en este caso).
- Se usan, sobre todo, en lenguaje escrito.
Hay dos tipos de Relative Sentences, dependiendo del
carácter del antecedente, lo que determinará la función de la
oración de relativo.
Defining:
There are 20 teachers.
The teacher who is 47 likes football very much.
CARACTERÍSTICAS:
- Si quitamos la oración de relativo who is 47, el antecedente
no estaría definido.
- No llevan comas.
- A veces prescinden del nexo de relativo.
- Se usan en lenguaje oral y escrito.
THE PROBLEM IS…
Comparadas con el español, las oraciones de
relativo en inglés presentan algunas diferencias:
1.- En español, siempre aparece el pronombre de relativo; en
inglés, a veces no.
La casa
que compraste
era muy cara.
The house
--- you bought
was very expensive.
2.- Cuando hay preposiciones en la oración de relativo, en
español aparece delante del pronombre de relativo; en inglés,
habitualmente no aparece delante del pronombre de relativo.
Hay que saber cuándo ocurre esto y dónde se coloca esa
preposición.
El profesor con el que estabas hablando
era Bob.
The teacher -------- you were talking to was Bob.
THE PROBLEM IS…
Lo que es necesario aprender:
I. Defining relative sentences (sin comas).
II. Definig relative sentences with preposition.
III. WHOSE.
IV. Non-defining relative sentences (con comas), con o sin
preposición.
V.
“Lo que” = What
---“Lo que” = WHICH.
VI. WHERE – WHEN -WHY
Definition
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:
Elephants who marry mice are very unusual.
In this sentence we understand that there are
many elephants, but it is clear that we are only
talking the ones who marry mice.
Punctuation
Commas are not used in defining relative
clauses.
Relative pronouns
Sometimes the relative pronouns are ommitted...

OMISSION OF THE RELATIVE PRONOUN
The policeman was really tall.
Two possible relative sentences:

The policeman came yesterday.
SUBJECT
Mary saw the policeman.
OBJECT (C.Dto.)
The policeman who came yesterday was really tall.
The policeman (who) Mary saw
was really tall.
MAIN CLAUSE
RELATIVE CLAUSE
LINK
RESULTING SENTENCES
PEOPLE
SUBJECT:
WHO
THE MAN WHO CAME YESTERDAY BOUGHT A BOOK
THE MAN BOUGHT A BOOK
THE MAN CAME YESTERDAY
THAT
THE MAN THAT CAME YESTERDAY BOUGHT A BOOK
PEOPLE
OBJECT:
WHO
THE MAN WHO I SAW YESTERDAY BOUGHT A BOOK
THE MAN BOUGHT A BOOK
I SAW THE MAN YESTERDAY
THAT
THE MAN THAT I SAW YESTERDAY BOUGHT A BOOK
XXXXX
THE MAN I SAW YESTERDAY BOUGHT A BOOK
THE CAR WHICH BROKE DOWN WAS VERY OLD
THINGS
SUBJECT:
WHICH
THE CAR WAS VERY OLD
THE CAR BROKE DOWN
THAT
THINGS
OBJECT:
WHICH
THE CAR WAS VERY OLD
I BOUGHT THE CAR
THAT
THE CAR THAT I BOUGHT WAS VERY OLD
XXXXX
THE CAR I BOUGHT WAS VERY OLD
THE CAR THAT BROKE DOWN WAS VERY OLD
THE CAR WHICH I BOUGHT WAS VERY OLD
Put a suitable relative
pronoun in each space

XXXX-WHICH-THAT
1 The bike _________________________
I had left
at the gate had disappeared.

XXXX-WHICH-THAT
2 The shoes ____________________
I bought
XXXX-WHICH-THAT
were the ones ___________________
I tried on first
XXXX-WHICH-THAT
3 The bag ___________________
the robbers
forgot was found full

Put a suitable relative pronoun
in each space

XXXX-WHICH-THAT
4 The medicine _________________the
doctor gave me had no effect at all
WHO-THAT


5 The man ________________ couldn't see
the screen decided to change his seat
XXXX-WHICH-THAT
6 I really liked that tea _____________you made
me this morning
Put a suitable relative pronoun in each space

7 What was the name of the boy
WHO-THAT
_____________
gave you the money?

XXXX-WHICH-THAT
8 The flight __________________Joe
was
going to take was cancelled

WHO-THAT
9 The person ______________
phoned
didn’t leave a message.
Put a suitable relative pronoun in each space



XXXX-WHICH-THAT
10 The guidebook ___________________we
bought explained everything.

WHICH-THAT
11 The car ____________
broke down was
Peter’s.



WHO-THAT
12 The students _______________
like
English will pass the exam.
Join these sentences using who, which only when
necessary.
0 She chose the books. She wanted to buy them.
She chose the books she wanted to buy.
1 We ate the sandwiches. Jack made them.
We ate the sandwiches Jack made.
Join these sentences using who, which only when
necessary.
2 I’m doing some work. I have to finish it today.
I’m doing some work I have to finish today.
3 She’s an old woman. I often see her..
She’s the old woman I often see.
Join these sentences using who, which only when
necessary.
4 He’s an actor. A lot of people like him..
He’s the actor a lot of people like.
5 The picture was hanging on that wall. It was
awful.
The picture which/that was hanging on that
wall was awful.
Join these sentences using who, which only when
necessary.
6 Mary sent me a letter. It was very funny.
The letter Mary sent me was very funny.
7 It’s a magazine. I often read it.
This is the magazine I often read.
Join these sentences using who, which only when
necessary.
8 She’s the singer. She was on TV last night.
She’s the singer THAT/WHO was on TV last
night.
9 I paid the bills. They came yesterday..
I paid the bills THAT/WHICH came
yesterday.

In spoken English a preposition in a relative
clause is usually placed in its natural position,
and the relative pronoun is omitted. A more
formal alternative is to put the preposition
before the relative pronoun.
The man is here. I talked to the man yesterday.
The man
The man
to whom
I talked
I talked
yesterday
to
yesterday
is here.
is here.
◦ When the object is a person:
 The man I spoke to was very friendly.
(or) The man who/that I spoke to was very friendly.
(or) The man to whom I spoke was very friendly.
(formal)
◦ When the object is a thing:
 The house I was born in is gone.
(or) The house that I was born in is gone.
(or) The house in which I was born is gone.(formal)
CONNECT THESE SENTENCES
This is the pen. I wrote the exam with the pen.
This is the pen I wrote the exam with.
That’s the policeman. I was with the policeman yesterday.
That’s the policeman I was with yesterday.
That’s the girl. Paul goes out with the girl.
That’s the girl Paul goes out with.
This is the town. We arrived at the town at 6.30.
This is the town we arrive at at 6.30.
This is the hotel. We stayed at the hotel with your brother.
This is the hotel we stayed at with your brother.
REWRITE THE FOLLOWING SENTENCES
1 These are the boys with whom I went on holiday.
These are the boys I went on holiday with.
2 Here’s the letter for which I've been waiting.
Here’s the letter I’ve been waiting for.
3 That is the shop from which Sue bought her bike.
That is the shop Sue bought her bike from.
5 Tim is someone to whom I hardly ever write.
Tom is someone I hardly ever write to.

To show that something belongs to
somebody:
◦ He helped a woman whose car had broken down.
◦ They’re the people whose house was burgled.

Whose is not usually used to refer to a thing.
Of which is usually used instead.
◦ He’s reading the book, the name of which I can
never remember.

But it is more natural to say:
◦ He’s reading that book-I can never remember its
name…

Non-relative defining clauses add extra
information about somebody or something
which could be left out and the sentence
would still make sense. This extra
information is separated from the main
clause by commas:
◦ The film, which was shot in Mexico, has won an
Oscar.

The pronouns that can be used in the nondefining clauses are who, whom, which and
whose.

When the subject is a person:
◦ My sister, who is a vegetarian, ordered a salad.

When the subject is a thing:
◦ The tickets, which can be bought at the station, are
valid for a month.

When the object is a person:

When the object is a thing:
◦ Peter, who nobody had met before, arrived late.
(or) Peter, whom nobody had met before, arrived
late.(formal)
◦ The tickets, which I’ve paid for, are still valid.

When something belongs to somebody:
◦ Lucy, whose car had broken down, didn’t go.



1. She showed me a photograph of her son. Her
son is a policeman.
She showed me a photograph of her son, who is a
policeman.
2. The new stadium will be opened next month.
The stadium holds 90,000 people.
The new stadium, which holds 90,000 people, will
be opened next month.
3. John is one of my closest friends. I have known
John for eight years.
John, whom I have known for eight years, is one of
my closest friends.

4. Thank you for your letter. I was very happy
to get your letter.
Thank you for your letter, which I was very happy
to get.

5. The storm caused a lot of damage. Nobody
had been expecting the storm.
The storm, which nobody had been expecting,
caused a lot of damage.

6. That man over there is an artist. I don’t
remember his name.
That man, whose name I don’t remember, is an
artist.


7. Mr Yates is retiring next month. He has
worked for the same company all his life.
Mr Yates, who has worked for the same company
all his life, is retiring next month.
8 Mr Roberts is in prison. Janet fell in love with
him.
Mr Roberts, with whom Janet fell in love, is in
prison.

9. My sister is visiting us next week. You once
met her.
My sister, whom you once met, is visiting us next
week.
WHAT=“The thing(s) that”: antecedente+relativo
No sé lo que (la cosa que) quiere.
I don’t know WHAT he wants.
Lo que (las cosas que) dijo no estuvo bien.
WHAT he said was not right.
WHICH=cuando el antecedente es una oración
complete y no un sustantivo. Siempre va detrás de
una coma:
Vino tarde, lo que me molestó mucho.
He was late, WHICH annoyed me so much.
relative
adverbs
meaning
use
example
when
refers to
a time
in/on which
expressi
on
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
the day when we met him
1.- No vino, lo que nunca pensé que pasaría
1.- He didn’t come, which I never thought would
happen.
2.- Lucy, cuyo coche se averió, no vino a la
fiesta.
2.- Lucy, whose car had broken down, didn’t
come to the party.
3.- Mr Roberts, de quien se enamoró Janet, está
en la cárcel.
3.- Mr Roberts, with whom Janet fell in love, is in
prison.
4.- Peter, a quien nadie conocía, llegó tarde.
4.- Peter, whom nobody had met before, arrived
late.
5.- Ese es el policía con el que estuve ayer.
5.- That’s the policeman I was with yesterday.
6.- Esa es la razón por la que nos quedamos en
casa.
6.- That’s the reason why we stayed at home.
7.- La bici que dejé en la puerta había
desaparecideo.
7.- The bike I had left at the gate had
disappeared.
8.- Ese es el policía con el que estuve ayer.
8.- The car which broke down was Peter’s.
9.- La casa en la que vivimos está en Londres.
9.- The house where we live is in London.
10.- El hombre que no podía ver la pantalla
decidió cambiarse de sitio.
10.- The man who couldn't see the screen
decided to change his seat.
11.- El estudiante cuyos libros se han perdido es H.
11.- The student whose books are missing is H.
12.- Los alumnos a los que les guste el Inglé
aprobarán el examen.
12.- The students who like English will pass the
exam.
13.- Los billetes, que he pagado yo, todavía son
válidos
13.- The tickets, which I’ve paid for, are still
valid.
14.- Estos son los momentos en que me haces
sentir estúpido.
14.- These are the moments when you make me
feel stupid.
15.-Esta es la ciudad a la que llegamos a las 6.30.
15. - This is the town we arrived at at 6.30.
15.-Lo que ves es lo mejor.
15. What you see is the best.