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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Use of the conjunction “before” about relative clause [duplicate]
Can a relative clause or noun clause follow “before” when it is used as a conjunction?
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Use of the conjunction “before”
When the word “before” is used as a conjunction, does it take a relative clause after it? For example, in the sentence “a phenomenon never witnessed before which could be driven by rising temperatures,...
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"It depends on what article you read" <--- Is 'what article you read' a relative clause construction?
The sentence is:
It depends on what article you read.
How would one parse this sentence according to the Cambridge Grammar of the English Language by Huddleston and Pullum (2002)?
Is what article ...
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What part of speech is "the way?"
Consider the following sentences:
I admire the way a lion pursues its prey.
He pursues his dreams the way a lion pursues its prey.
In the first sentence, am I right that "the way" is an ...
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What clause is the clause "that you should be so angry with me?"
In this sentence "What have I done that you should be so angry with me?"
"that you should be so angry with me" is a relative clause or adverbial clause of result?
In most grammar ...
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How did Middle English form pronominal adverbs like "whereof" given three words instead of two?
Middle English featured pronominal adverbs like whereof meaning of which. How did it handle another noun appended like those in during which time and at which point?
I ran Google and Wikisource ...
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How to parse "clairvoyance to do something" - relative infinitive or purpose adjunct?
As I was watching some simple shorts on YouTube, one sentence caught my attention. It is from the Star Wars episode of Family Guy, where a high-ranking officer says the following sentence (slightly ...
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Can 'which' modify words that are not directly adjacent to it?
As a non-native English speaker who has been studying grammar abroad, I wouldn't argue that which can only modify the word that comes directly before it. However, my professor asked us last week if ...
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Is this sentence ungrammatical? "She wrote a book(,) of which I chose the name." If so, why?
In relation to relative phrases, is this sentence ungrammatical? If so, why?
?She wrote a book(,) of which I chose the name.
It sound ungrammatical to me. If it is so, I cannot pinpoint the factor ...
user638104
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Can a Restrictive Relative Clause with an Indefinite Article be Specific?
I've been researching the topic of indefinite articles recently, and I've come across [this article][1], which states that some 'singular count nouns with specific reference in the utterance' make it ...
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Help with relative clause questions?
I have two sentences:
A) I love this chair, which my father bought last year
B) My city has a lot of beautiful places, which makes it a popular travel destination
Here are some questions. Can anyone ...
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What is the difference between relative and content clause?
I asked ChatGPT about the role of the second ‘that’ in this passage. It answered that the word ‘that’ basically functions as a content clause. I wonder if the answer given by ChatGPT is correct. If so,...
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How much may be omitted in cases of VP ellipsis involving multiply-embedded clauses?
Dear native English speakers of this beautiful forum
I would like you to entertain the meaning of the sentence below, which has the rather simple form Mary suspected that the fingerprints had in fact ...
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which in turns slows
It works like this: As the glaciers melt and the seas rise, gravity
forces more water toward the equator. This changes the shape of the
Earth ever so slightly, making it fatter around the middle, ...
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, which have helped to feed [closed]
Satellites track weather patterns and measure the effectiveness of
farming methods and innovations in agriculture, which have helped to
feed millions more than we could have dreamed possible before ...
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Do relative clauses modify nouns or noun phrases?
Using "A Comprehensive Grammar of the English Language" by Quirk et al. or "The Longman Student's Grammar of Spoken and Written English" by Biber et al. as a grammatical framework:
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Nested, repeated comparatives?
Can someone please explain why the following construction is grammatical?
Josh is taller than Mary is taller than Helen.
I’ve come across this kind of phrasing before in all sorts of media (...
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What Is the Function of the Participle Clause in 'Time + -ing'?
[1] My time working in the US was eventful, to say the least.'
In Example 1, I have used a participial-gerund clause (or present participle clause, if you prefer) alongside the noun 'time,' and I'm ...
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When does a relative pronoun become the subject of a relative clause and when does it not?
Previously, I thought that a relative pronoun becomes the subject of a relative clause when the relative clause modifies the subject of the main clause. In other words, it serves a double purpose. For ...
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future perfect or present perfect in a relative clause qualifying a noun contained in a time clause?
In the screenplay Harold and Maude, written by American author Colin Higgins, Harold stages a number of pretended suicides in an attempt to get strong emotional responses from his mother.
At a ...
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Is the antecedent of a relative clause always the nearest noun? [duplicate]
I found this line in a film, The Grand Budapest Hotel.
There are still faint glimmers of civilization left in this barbaric slaughterhouse that was once known as humanity.
What was once known as ...
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The X of which vs. with an X that
Is there is any guideline to decide which of the following structures is preferred in written American English in scientific papers? The sentences below are just some examples.
Example 1:
Structure 1: ...
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How Relative Pronouns Work [closed]
A relative pronoun is called "both a conjunction and a pronoun". There are other definitions, but the horribly superficial ones like "connects two sentences" are enough.
Why doesn'...
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Are which+ noun and whose nouns are acceptable in English free relatives? [closed]
I am curious if the following two sentences are acceptable in English.
a. He read which books she read.
b. I am sure that my dad will pay for whose cars I damage.
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The impediment generates that in relation to which it is an impediment . <-- analysis?
Can someone help me analyze the grammar of the following sentence?
In a paradoxical logic, the impediment generates that in relation to which it is an impediment.
I'm very confused by "that in ...
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“If you don’t know which book you can buy, we can advise you.”
If you don’t know which book you can buy, we can advise you.
In this sentence, is "which book you can buy" a defining relative clause introduced by the subordinator "which" as a ...
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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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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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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 ...
user163011
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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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