Relative clauses

Relative clauses

Introduction

As mentioned earlier when we dealt with main and subordinate, a clause is similar to what you probably think of as a sentence. Clauses are usually thought of as containing two basic constituents: a subject (a noun phrase) and a predicate (a verb phrase plus what other things the particular verb type requires).

*subject*	*predicate*
The old man with funny shoes	slept quietly in the corner.
The rat	ate the grain.
I	have been working nights.
The children	cried.

The subjects occur in the first column; the full predicates occur in the second. Note that only the italicized parts of the predicate are required by the verb.

In this chapter, we are going to deal with the relative clause, marked by its characteristic relative pronoun. Examine this sentence:

The man who won the race is my grandfather.

The main sentence is The man is my grandfather but within this sentence is the relative clause who won the race, which itself contains both a subject who and a predicate won the race. It is fairly obvious why relative clauses are considered clauses.

Relative pronouns

Relative pronouns are those pronouns that are used in relative clauses. The first three relative clauses contain relative pronouns; the last two contain relative adverbs.

The man who won the race…
The table that Grandfather built…
The book which Herman just finished writing…

The city where the incident happened…
A time when there was peace on earth…

There is a growing tendency, partially of prescriptive origins, for the pronoun that to be the only pronoun in restrictive relative clauses.

Relative clause types

The distinction between restrictive and non-restrictive relative clauses rests on the communicative function of the relative clause. If the relative clause serves to (help) identify the head noun, it is restrictive. This functional difference is the basis for the following illustration.

First, ask three or four different students what country they are from (or, how old they are). Then ask them if they know where you are from. In my case, at least some of them know that I am from Canada. Then, put the following sentences on the board:

Point to the student who is from Ethiopia.
Point to the student who is from Malaysia.
Point to the student who is from Mexico.

Point to the teacher, who is from Canada.

It is quickly apparent that, to obey the first three commands, the information in the relative clause is needed, but not for the fourth command; for the first three commands, the relative clause helps answer the question Which one? but not for the fourth. Notice that if the relative clauses in the first three examples are erased, we do not know which student is being referred to; if the relative clause in the last example is erased, we can still point to the teacher.

Further examples of a parallel kind can be made up about the classroom, the students, and the immediate environment. The only crucial requirement is that the examples be real in the same way that the examples given above are real.

This exercise is included not just as an example of the relative clause but also as an example of how something quite difficult to explain, can, nonetheless, be illustrated simply and clearly.
In writing, the difference between restrictive and non-restrictive relative clauses is also indicated by the punctuation. Restrictive relative clauses are not punctuated, but non-restrictive relative clauses are set off from the rest of the sentence by commas. This absence or presence of commas correlates with a real meaning difference:

1. The students who work hard do well on the tests. (restrictive)
2. The students, who work hard, do well on the tests. (non-restrictive)

In the first sentence, The students who work hard… tells which students are being talked about. In the second sentence, The students… tells which students are being talked about.
A similar meaning difference is indicated by the punctuation difference in the pair of sentences:

3. The tourists who come from Brazil speak Portuguese. (restrictive)
4. The tourists, who come from Brazil, speak Portuguese. (non-restrictive)

In the first sentence, The tourists who come from Brazil… tells which tourists are being talked about. In the second sentence, The tourists… tells which tourists are being talked about. In this sentence, the relative clause does not serve to tell which tourists; rather it only adds some parenthetical information about the language of all the tourists.

The relative pronoun that only occurs in restrictive relative clauses.

The old man who used to work at the computer company…
The old man that used to work at the computer company…

The fact that that can substitute for who is the example shows that the relative clause is restrictive.

Note: There is a prescriptive rule that that cannot be used to refer to humans. Like many prescriptive rules, it is not true. However, like many prescriptive rules, it should be followed in formal writing.

The inability of that to substitute for a relative pronoun shows that the relative clause is non-restrictive and thus requires commas:

Bill's mother, who used to work at the computer company…
(but not) Bill's mother, *that used to work at the computer company…

EXERCISE 1: RELATIVE CLAUSES

First underline the relative clause and then add any needed commas. If there is a problem, be prepared to discuss it. Answers to this exercise are found after Exercise 2.

1.	My brother Cedric's first child who will be sixteen years old this month is in the tenth grade.
2.	Jim's mother who has only been painting for about a year and a half now won a second place ribbon at the fair for one of her water colors.
3.	The police still do not know the name of the woman who robbed the Safeway store three weeks ago.
4.	Her father did not seem to like any of the young men who dated his only daughter.
5.	The men who volunteered were unhappy, but the men who were drafted were happy.

EXERCISE 2: RELATIVE CLAUSES

First underline the relative clause and then add any needed commas. If there is a problem, be prepared to discuss it.

1.	The kind of elephant which is normally found in Africa is hard to train; in contrast, the kind of elephant which is normally found in Asia is much easier to train.
2.	The message which the President released to the press yesterday was not very encouraging.
3.	The Carol who used to teach reading and composition got married; the other Carol did not.
4.	Bill's wife who works at Penny's will get her B.A. in June.
5.	Senator Jason Samuels who is running for re-election is quite active in foreign affairs; Senator Malvin Jackson who is not running for re-election has not be active in anything lately.
6.	The Chinese who are industrious do well in business.

ANSWERS TO EXERCISE 1:

1.	My brother Cedric's first child, who will be sixteen years old this month, is in the tenth grade.
2.	Jim's mother, who has only been painting for about a year and a half now, won a second place ribbon at the fair for one of her water colors.
3.	The police still do not know the name of the woman who robbed the Safeway store three weeks ago.
4.	Her father did not seem to like any of the young men who dated his only daughter.
5.	The men who volunteered were unhappy, but the men who were drafted were happy.

“Reduced counterparts” to relative clauses

Relative clauses often have as “reduced counterparts” both appositives and adjectival participial phrases. Like their full clause counterparts, the appositives may be either restrictive or non-restrictive.

An appositive:

Linguistics, which is a difficult subject, can be enjoyable.
= Linguistics, a difficult subject, can be enjoyable.

Notice that the punctuation did not change. The full clause version is non-restrictive and the corresponding appositive is non-restrictive— with exactly the same punctuation.

In contrast to the appositives and unlike their full clause counterparts, adjectival participial phrases may only be restrictive.

An adjectival participial phrase:

Students who are studying English grammar work hard.
= Students studying English grammar work hard.

Notice that the punctuation did not change. The full clause version is restrictive, so that corresponding participial is restrictive.

EXERCISE 3: APPOSITIVES AND PARTICIPIAL PHRASES

Reduce the relative clauses in the following sentences to adjective phrases, prepositional phrases, or appositive phrases.

1.	Historical linguistics, which is a difficult subject, can be fascinating.
2.	The students who are taking Mary Haas' class this semester are enjoying it.
3.	The one book of hers which is used in universities around the world is her book on historical linguistics.
4.	One NSF report which is on reserve in the library is required reading for everyone in the class.
5.	Marc Okrand, who was one of the top graduate students in Dr. Haas' courses a number of years ago, has since done interesting work with ASL, the language of the deaf.
6.	The students that are in her classes consider it a privilege to study with her.
7.	She has written several articles which are on various aspects of Western intellectual history.
8.	The insights which are presented in these writings are still as important today as they were when they were originally written.

EXERCISE 4: RELATIVE CLAUSES

First underline the relative clause and then add any needed commas. If there is a problem, be prepared to discuss it.

1.	My sister Sally's youngest daughter who was born in mid winter seems to hate the summer months.
2.	The nephew of Jane's who has been living across the street will be entering university in the fall.
3.	The IRS is looking for the man who filed false income tax returns under seven different names.
4.	His mother never seemed to like any of the young women who dated her only son.
5.	Students who work hard get better grades than students who don't.

EXERCISE 5: RELATIVE CLAUSES

First underline the relative clause and then add any needed commas. If there is a problem, be prepared to discuss it.

1.	The kind of teacher who prepares for each class usually teaches well; the kind of teacher who fakes with any frequency usually does not.
2.	The food which I cooked for dinner yesterday made me extremely sick.
3.	The woman who used to teach the Arabic class left for a job at Yale; unfortunately the man who took her place is not yet an experienced teacher.
4.	Bill's brother who is extremely nice cannot, however, seem to find a job.
5.	The Mr. Jackson who used to play for the Yankees should not be mistaken for the Mr. Jackson who used to play for the Raiders.
6.	The older people who take care of themselves seem to live happier lives.