Grammar reference

UNIT 4
Relative clauses
A relative clause tells us more about a person or topic. It is usually introduced by a relative
pronoun, but in some cases this may be omitted.

Relative pronouns
Relative pronoun Examples
who refers to a person.* His sister, who is an architect, is sitting over there.
which refers to an object, place or idea. London, which is the capital of England, is on the River Thames.
that refers to an object, idea or person in defining relative This is a place that I would like to visit.
clauses only (see below). She is the person that you need to see.
It is more impersonal than who, so we use it when talking about He is someone that is interested in other people.
someone’s role or attribute.
where refers to a location. This is the place where we last saw him.
whose indicates possession, by both people and things. This is an idea whose time has come.
I don’t know whose coat this is.
when refers to a time. 1994 was the year when we got married.
why refers to a reason or explanation. Can you tell me the reason why you are late?

*An object form of who – whom – also exists, but it is only used in extremely formal situations:
He is the boy whom we have hired. (very rare)
He is the boy who we have hired. (much more common)
In some circumstances what can be a relative pronoun for a thing or idea:
I don’t know what it is.
What we need is a microscope.

Defining relative clauses

Defining relative clauses add essential information:
She is the person who / that is going to be our new boss.
This is an idea which / that merits consideration.
Very often a sentence will be meaningless if we omit a defining relative clause:
London is the place where we met.
The relative pronouns who, that and which can usually be omitted when they are the object
of a defining relative clause:
He is someone (who / that) I’d like to meet.
This is something (which / that) I’d like to know.
The relative pronouns who, that and which cannot be omitted when they are
the subject of a defining relative clause:
She is the person who / that is responsible for the situation.
Where, when and why cannot be omitted in all circumstances, so it is safer to include them.

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Non-defining relative clauses

A non-defining relative clause adds non-essential information:
My mother, who lives with us, works as a teacher.
It is possible to omit non-defining relative clauses without affecting the basic meaning
of the sentence.
Einstein[, whose father was an engineer,] was born in 1879.
He moved to England[, where his girlfriend was living].
We always use commas before and, if necessary, after non-defining relative clauses. If we
don’t use commas, the meaning changes and we have a defining relative clause.
Compare:
The dog, which was sick yesterday, is fine this morning.
In this case the speaker only has one dog. The relative clause (which was sick yesterday)
provides additional non-essential information about this dog.
The dog which was sick yesterday is fine this morning.
In this case the speaker has more than one dog. The relative clause (which was sick yesterday)
is vital because it tells us which dog he is talking about.
Watch out!
We cannot use that in non-defining relative clauses.
Mr Rogers, who that works with my father, lives over there.
Chess, which that is a game I hate, is getting more popular.

Word order: prepositions

Prepositions which affect the relative pronoun normally go at the end of the relative clause.
He is the person (who / that) I was telling you about.
This book, which everybody is talking about, is quite boring.
In extremely formal contexts we may put the preposition before the relative pronoun, but this
is very rare.
This is a position with which the government cannot agree.

Adverbs of manner
Adverbs of manner describe how something happens or is done.
He sings beautifully.
She is behaving very selfishly.
The snow is falling heavily.
Adverbs of manner are formed as follows:
adjectives not ending in -y: sad → sadly
adjectives ending in -y: happy → happily
Common irregular adverbs of manner are: well, fast and hard.
The position of adverbs of manner in a clause is somewhat flexible. However, the only option
which is always correct is to place the adverb of manner after the verb, and after the object
if there is one.
✔ He plays the piano well.
VERB OBJECT ADVERB OF MANNER
✘ He plays well the piano.
They were walking slowly.
VERB ADVERB OF MANNER
Very often in English we use not + a negative adverb of manner, rather than a positive adverb
of manner.
She’s not doing badly. (= She’s doing well.)
He’s not doing very well. (= He’s doing badly.)

Appendices / Grammar reference 105