English grammar - Roger Berry 2012

B10.4 Conclusion
B10 Relative clauses
Section B Development

Sentences with relative clauses are difficult to interpret (and produce), especially those that have embedding, objection deletion (i.e. a zero relative pronoun) and preposition stranding:

The picture you are talking about was painted by my brother.

Learners (and some native speakers) have trouble with their construction, producing such errors as ’The picture you are talking about it was painted by my brother.

Comments

Activity B10.1:

1 yes; 2 no; 3 yes; 4 no (though who is can be deleted to form a non-finite clause).

Activity B10.2:

1. nominal

2. relative

3. exclamative

4. nominal: the clause beginning whose is an object that has been fronted. (This is the first line of the poem ’Stopping by woods on a snowy evening’ by Robert Frost.)

5. relative

6. relative

Activity B10.3:

main clause: SVPs (the relative clause is part of the predicative)

relative clause: Op (whose essay), S (I), V (sent), Oi (you)

Activity B10.4:

1. This is the answer that/which/--- we’ve been looking for. (or . . . for which . . .)

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

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

4. The book that/which/--- you found belongs to me.

5. I have 50 students, the majority of whom are female.