Summary of Relative Clauses

1. Relative clauses as modifiers of nouns: the relative clauses here are introduced by the relative
pronouns whose interpretation is provided by their antidecents respectively. The relation
between a pronoun and it antecedent is called anaphora, and it is a crucial property of relative
clauses that they always contains an element that is anaphorically related to an antecedent
from which it derives its interpretation. Example:
● The cat which Jean bring is very friendly and beautiful.
● The man whose car is missing is very sad.
2. Wh relative clauses: the relative clauses that do contain an overt anaphoric link like ‘who’ or
’which’. Example: The vase which I broke.
3. Non-wh relative clauses: the relative clauses that does not contain an overt anaphoric link and
use ‘that’ or nothing at all. Example:
● The vase that I broke. [that relative]
● The vase I broke. [bare relative]
4. The relativised element: the overt or convert element R that is anaphorically linked to the head
noun. Example:
● The doll which Anya buy. [Wh relative clause]
● The doll that Anya buy ___. [Non-wh relative clause, the blank space marks the
position of the covert R element]
5. Relative phrase: the constituent occupying initial position in the clause.
6. Relative element: the element that is anaphorically related to the head noun, the element we
have been representing as R.
7. Integrated vs supplementary relatives: the relative clauses considered do far have all been
tightly integrated into the structure of the NP containing them. As such, they contrast with
another kind of relative clause that is more loosely attached. This second kind we call
supplementary relative clauses. The difference between integrated and supplementary relatives
with respect to three things:
● Intonation and punctuation: integrated relatives are integrated intentionally into the
larger construction. Punctuation does not provide quite as reliable a criterion as
intonation, however, because we do find relatives which are clearly supplementary but
are written without being set apart by punctuation.
● Interpretation: the names we have given to the two types of relative clause directly
reflect the difference in meaning:
⮚ The information expressed in an integrated relative is presented as an integral
part of the larger message.
⮚ The information expressed in a supplementary relative is presented as
supplementary to that expressed in the rest of the sentence.
● Syntax: there are a number of syntactic differences:
⮚ Wh relatives vs non-wh relatives: supplementary relatives are almost always of
the wh type, and supplementary that relatives are extremely rare.
 ⮚ Antecedents allowed for supplementary relatives: supplementary relatives allow
a wider range of antecedents than integrated ones.
⮚ Which as pronoun or determinative: which occurs in integrated relatives onlu as
a pronoun, but in supplementary relatives it can also be a determinative.
⮚ Function: integrated relatives function as dependent (or more specifically,
modifier), but supplementary relatives are attached more loosely and indeed
may constitue a separate sentences.
8. Gender personal vs non-personal: the personal words (who/ whose) refers to the humans
(primarily) but sometimes it refers to other entities like robots, extraterrestrials, or animals.
While non-personal words (what/ which) only refers to object other than mentioned above.
Example:
● The girl who wear white dress is my best friend. [Personal]
● The dictionary book which she found on the table is missing. [Non-personal]
9. Nominative vs accusative: the nominative is required in subject or predicative complement
function. The complement of a fronted preposition is normally accusative. Elsewhere both cases
are found, with the accusative being more formal in style. One difference from interrogative
clauses is that in integrated relatives the choice between the cases is very often avoided by use
of the non-wh construction.
10. Fused relatives: in this construction the antecedent and the relativised element are fused
together instead of being expressed separately as in simpler constructions. There are a few
major relative words that occur in this construction: who, whom, what, which, where, when,
whoever, whomever, whatever, whichever, wherever, whenever.