Questions tagged [relative-clauses]
Relative clauses are clauses starting with the relative pronouns who*, that, which, whose, where, when. They are most often used to define or identify the noun that precedes them.
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Correct use of 'of which'
So, I happened to be reading a grammar book in which I came across this weird looking sentence.
This is the car of which parts are not available now.
I think it should have been something like this:
...
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use of "being" in reduced relative clause
what I have been told is that present participles are used in active reduced relative clauses. considering present participle of "be", which is being, I was wondering can we use the same ...
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Why is "what" used in this sentence? [duplicate]
Consider the sentence:
So how can a computer think if it knows nothing of what it means to be a human being.
Initially I thought that because "of" in this sentence basically means "...
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I was trying to describe a recipe to my friend that I'd had a go of
Is this dialectal use:
And I thought I've got a nice kitchen now maybe I should learn to cook. And I'm learning, it's going quite well. I don't always know the right words for things. I couldn't ...
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I need help with independent clauses
I got a bit confused about independent clauses,so I decided to ask ChatGpt, which has given me three different answers for the same sentence I think he is getting too old, suffering from Alzheimer's ...
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Is this usage of "whoever's" acceptable?
This question sparked a long conversation in the ELU chatroom and I figured the crowd might have some additional insight.
Is the following sentence correct?
Whoever’s car is blocking my driveway must ...
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Is “what” a relative pronoun here? [duplicate]
In the sentence, what is “what”? Relative pronoun? Relative adverb?
It was a man in what can only be described as a horrible condition.
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What is the subject in the relative clause “that it affects the Earth's balance"?
People have extracted so much underground water that it affects the Earth's balance.
Most relative clauses start with a relative pronoun, such as "that."
What is the subject in the relative ...
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Conditional clause within a relative clause
Is the following sentence grammatically correct?
The word "if" is not used in this sentence, which I'm not sure is a mistake or not.
And if anyone has a link to a reference on conditional ...
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Why can we use present participles but not past participles in some reduced relative clauses?
Who’s the girl dancing over there? = Who's the girl (who is) dancing over there?
BUT this sentence is not possible:
Who's the girl danced with my husband? = Who's the girl (who) danced with my husband?...
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Why is this that-clause unnatural as the subject in this sentence?
(1)After the surprising Algiers Agreement between Iran and Iraq is reached, the United States stops its support for the Kurdish rebels, which causes the fragmentation of the opposition and an ...
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"as" and "that" interchangeability
This is a sentence from a piece of technical writing I am reviewing, penned by a British author, and I can't help but want to change "that" to "as".
That word still means the same ...
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Clause inside relative clause
"She had a book which she believed was bought by her father."
In this sentence, why we can insert a whole clause into the relative clause?
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Relative pronoun's position in non-restrictive relative clause
I'm learning the grammar of relative pronouns; I thought all relative pronouns should be at the start of a clause, and then I learned that pronouns can be put after a preposition, as in "The bed ...
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The way to join multiple relative clauses
One sentence on this website says:
It is caused chiefly by kleptocratic governments or private interests in league with governments that make market exchange unprofitable, that make investment in ...
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Grammar: "This changes state that has this property"
I came across this sentence in The Rust Programming Language:
: calling the 'next' method on an iterator changes internal state that the iterator uses to keep track of where it is in the sequence.
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Avoidance of double negation in early modern English? (Spenser's The Faerie Queene)
There's this very famous line in Edmund Spenser's The Faerie Queene (Book V, Canto II, Stanza 39) that reads
For there is nothing lost, that may be found, if sought.
I know that the interpretation ...
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Whomever from the show "The Office"
So there is an infamous comedy sketch with "whomever" vs "whoever" in the show "the Office". The correct answer there is that you cannot tell which is the correct answer ...
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non-restrictive relative clause uses a new noun as description [duplicate]
I'm reading a book about investing, and I came across a nonrestrictive relative clause in which there's a word whose function I can't seem to understand.
The author describes one of the duties of the ...
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relative clause? syntax unclear
the syntax of the following is unclear to me:
There was also a donation event, the proceeds to be applied to provide food for the homeless.
My particular difficulty is with the latter clause, which ...
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In which Englishes are "distant" relative clauses acceptable?
Are sentences like these
The man got beaten up who James saw take the train yesterday.
The potato was eaten that Hayley said she wanted.
with these meanings
The man who James saw take the train ...
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Non-defining relative clause [closed]
Is this a non-defining relative clause?
Globalization is the driving force behind growth in global trade, which facilitates exchange of goods among countries.
If so, can I write:
Globalization is ...
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a noun just before the relative clause referring the whole sentence
Consider:
They may play games, sports or simply sit and chat together, activities which are far healthier than sitting alone hunched over a screen.
Can we omit activities?
They may play games, ...
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Omitting the verb in non-parallel clauses
I've seen this sentence in a textbook and it sounds unnatural to me.
It was the Ottomans who were developed and Western Europe underdeveloped.
I feel like the omission might have been correct If the ...
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'that' vs. 'which'/'who' when multiple noun phrases are involved
The sentences at issue are:
"The company required a way to showcase their product line and its benefits that can not be typically highlighted in a traditional TV commercial."
"He ...
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A question about constructing relatives from existential sentences
Chomsky (2004) claims that examples very similar to (1a) and (1b) are crashingly bad. But I was wondering if the (somewhat wordier) versions in (2a) and (2b) are equally degraded, or if there is a ...
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Relative Clause and Prepositions
First of all, I tried to find an answer to my question under similar topics but couldn't find. If there's a question topic that's identical or similar to this one please put a link and I'll delete ...
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I met a man the other day who says he knows you
(1) I met a man the other day who says he knows you.
H&P's CGEL (Page 1066) shows this sentence in a subsection called Postposing of relative clause, which starts like this:
It is also possible, ...
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Why is a relative clause not always an appositive?
A relative clause adds information: I, who am red, am here.
Non-restrictive appositions have phrases injected into a sentence: I, red giant, am here. The injections add no essential information.
Then ...
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Subject-verb agreement for adjectival relative clause [duplicate]
Which of the following is correct?
The beaver is one of the few animals that changes its own environment.
Or
The beaver is one of the few animals that change their own environment.
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"It was Bob who ate my biscuits" <--Why does this relative clause break all the rules?
The following sentences are from the BBC [just to give a source showing that these sentences are all grammatically correct].
It was Rob that/who ate my biscuits. (not Catherine)
It was my biscuits ...
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Understanding defining and non-defining relative clauses in the context of mathematics
I am a student of mathematics and I have to write my thesis in English. A problem which occurs very often is the distinction between defining and non-defining relative clauses. In mathematics, this ...
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Can I insert any word/adverb between the noun and the relative clause?
In the following two sentences, should I always move "yesterday" and "very much" to other places or can I leave some short ones in between the noun and the relative clause?
I ...
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Using 'place that' instead of 'place where'
Practical English Usage, Fourth Edition (Fully Revised International Edition), by Michael Swan has this sentence under subsection 237 relatives: advanced points:
We need a place (that) we can stay ...
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Relative clause - situational instances [duplicate]
I was taught “which” can be used to refer to a situation or event in the preceding clause, as well as referring directly to the person or thing immediately in front of “which”. But how do you tell the ...
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Is this natural? "There's somebody wants to see you." [duplicate]
I have learned the following sentence is grammatically correct because it is possible to omit the nominative relative pronoun in a sentence like "there is ...". I'm not sure if it is natural ...
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Nonstandard agreement in relative clauses (usage)
Kimball and Aissen (1971) describe a dialect of English in which the matrix verb may agree with the embedded subject when it is relativized. That is, this dialect admits both (1a), with thinks ...
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Do reduced relative clauses stack? [closed]
I was wondering if you can always get (3-4) from (1-2) or if there is some kind of restriction on this sort of stacking
(1) The door closed by the janitor
(2) The door expected to be opened by the ...
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Which relative pronoun should I use to describe objects which use the pronoun them? [closed]
There are many active political parties here. Many of them hold great influence.
If I were to join both sentences with a preposition and a relative pronoun, would 'which' or 'whom' to describe '...
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Why is "Audiences may contain many 'free riders', not making contributions." incorrect?
[From an SAT practice test] The correct answer is "Audiences may contain many 'free riders', who did not make contributions."
I can hear how the second sounds better but can't articulate ...
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Omit relative pronoun while connecting two relative clauses
The value of function f(x)=ax+b is positive when x is positive where a is non-negative real number and where b is positive integer.
Is there any difference as I omit the second "where" as ...
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A Question About non-Restrictive Relative Clauses [duplicate]
I was creating Instagram posts, and I noticed that there might have been something wrong with the text. Here it is:
‘Heaven’ is an uncountable noun that refers to a place where good people go after ...
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"of which" with a number – is this grammatically correct? [duplicate]
Consider this sentence;
I found 6 coins, 5 of which were rare
Is this grammatically correct? I've been using it for years but I recently realised it may not be "correct".
I put the term ...
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Can a relative clause introduced by a noun phrase marked by the indefinite article be both non-restrictive and restrictive?
[Example 1] The quirky scientist is shot and killed by a group of Libyan terrorists from whom he stole the plutonium that powers his new design.
In the above example, I have used a restrictive ...
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Is this a complex sentence with a relative clause?
I have a sentence here:
“I don’t understand why you like birds.”
Upon analyzing the sentence structure, there is what appears to be a relative clause:
“why you like birds”
Is this then a complex ...
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Separating that/which clauses from their referents with prepositional phrases [duplicate]
How acceptable is it to separate a that-clause from its referent with a prepositional phrase? It's a problem I keep running into, and I'm not sure if it's too jarring.
How would you rate the ...
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What syntatic role does the noun 'desire' occupy in this infinitive clause?
I know that infinitive clauses can be used as modifiers. Most of the time, I can easily identify their place. See this example:
[1] He found a place to sleep.
Although it isn't explicitly stated, my ...
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What to do when a relative pronoun seems to be both object and subject? [duplicate]
Consider the following:
I congratulate him.
He won the race.
I congratulate him who won the race.
I think these are straight-forward. The object of the main clause becomes the subject of the ...
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What is the term for repeating non-restrictive clauses?
I came across the following quote:
Scientists would soon find themselves adrift in a bewildering realm of
particles and antiparticles, where things pop in and out of existence
in spans of time that ...
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Use of Relative Clauses Without Any Corresponding Noun Clause/Phrase [closed]
Is it correct to use relative clauses that do not modify any noun clauses/phrases? Take this next sentence as an example
I will let you retake the test, which is more than reasonable.
The relative ...
