On Relative Clauses - Descriptive Grammar

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RELATIVE CLAUSES

We use relative clauses to postmodify a noun - to make clear which person or thing we are talking about. In these clauses we can have the relative pronoun who, which, whose or that:

Isn’t that the woman who lives across the road from you?

The relative pronoun is the subject of the clause.

REDUCED RELATIVE CLAUSES

Non-finite clauses functon as reduced relative clauses:

The firemen battled an inferno fuelled by toxic chemicals.

ZERO RELATIVE

ZERO relative clause is a clause where relative pronoun is omitted:

The book I am reading is great.

COMPARED TO: Reduced relative clause is a clause where relative pronoun is omitted and where the verb has–ed or –ing form:

Houses built in the 1940s are usually draughty.

NOMINAL RELATIVE CLAUSES: SPECIFIC AND NON-SPECIFIC

SPECIFIC:

I took what was on the kitchen table. ('... that which was on the kitchen table.')

May is whenshetakes her last examination. ('...the time whenshetakes her last examination.')

NONSPECIFIC:

Whoever breaks this law deserves a fine. ('Anyone who breaks this law...')

I'll send whatever is necessary. ('... anything that is necessary.')