gram: relative pronouns

 

Relative clauses

A)  Different clauses

“The playwright who was a dandy came from Ireland.”

→ Where is the relative clause?  What is its antecedent?   

 

→ Compare with:

“The playwright, who was a dandy, came from Ireland”.

Which difference(s) do you notice?

B)  Different pronouns

1)   Subject or object ?

1.  He is the novelist who wrote the story ______

2.   The girl whom he killed might be his sister.______

3.   The language Ø  they spoke was difficult.___

4.   The story which I read was on the blog.____

2)   which antecedent ?

→ Complete with : who, whom, which, that ,  ⃠

a)    If the pronouns are subjects :

human antecedent	Ex: the man ________   was looking for information was young. EX2: the girl,______ spoke English, was brave.
non-human antecedent	EX: The words  __________  were scary were uttered by the girl. EX2: The text, ______ is on the blog, deals with love.

b)   if the pronouns are objects :

human antecedent	The student  ____________ ⃠ you saw before is Tom. NB : The student,  ______      you heard before, is Tom. (no that, no  Ø  if it is a non-defining clause )
non-human antecedent	The text_____________ you read earlier is  a tragedy… The document, _________ you read earlier, is a tragedy. (non-defining)

Going further

1)  whose

Observe: Harry, whose story is moving, is the main character....
We could also write: Harry is the main character :    

_________ story is moving.

 
→ What can you infer about “whose”?

2)  , which

We can go out, which is great news.

→ What does  “,which” refer to?
It refers to " we can go out"

3)  What

They said what the teacher expected.
→ Rephrase “what”?

They said      _____________________    the teacher expected

NB: How would you translate “tout ce que”? ____________