English grammar - Roger Berry 2012

B10.3 The formation of relative clauses
B10 Relative clauses
Section B Development

We can demonstrate how relative clauses are formed - and how the alternatives arise - by taking a finite clause you were talking to him and ’adding’ it to a noun phrase (the antecedent) as postmodification in a main clause: The man is a fool.

A precondition for relative clauses is that the antecedent refers to the same thing or person as the relative pronoun. Once this has been established (i.e. the man = him in this example), there are the following three steps in the process:

□ place the ’relative clause’ next to the antecedent; in this case, because it is the subject of the main clause, the relative clause is embedded:

The man - you were talking to him - is a fool.

□ move the appropriate pronoun (or noun phrase) in the relative clause next to the antecedent; since we have a prepositional object we can either move the preposition along with the pronoun or leave it behind (’strand it’):

The man - him you were talking to - is a fool.

The man - to him you were talking- is a fool.

□ choose the appropriate relative pronoun (or determiner). With the second example above there is only one possibility, whom:

The man to whom you were talking is a fool.

With the first example (with the preposition stranded) there are four possible pronouns:

The man who /whom /that/--- you were talking to is a fool. (--- indicates zero)

Here is another example using two clauses that could be part of the description in this section:

There are three steps. Not all of them are necessary.

□ place the ’relative clause’ next to the antecedent:

There are three steps - not all of them are necessary.

□ move the appropriate pronoun (or phrase) in the relative clause next to the antecedent:

There are three steps - not all of them are necessary

In this case there is no change since the pronoun (them) is already at the start of the relative clause (though it is part of another phrase).

□ choose the appropriate relative pronoun (or determiner):

There are three steps, not all of which are necessary.

That is not possible since there is a preposition of which not all . . . is an alternative.

Activity B10.4

Combine these pairs of sentences by turning the second sentence into a relative clause via the three stages as described above (there may be more than one possibility):

EXAMPLE. I know the man. He has been robbed.

I know the man that/who has been robbed.

1. This is the answer. We’ve been looking for it.

2. The doctor is a friend of mine. He cured you.

3. This is the boy. His mother is a teacher.

4. The book belongs to me. You found it.

5. I have 50 students. The majority of them are female.