Relatives: correction

 

Relative clauses

A)  Different clauses

The man who invented the phone was Scottish.

→ Where is the relative clause?  What is  the antecedent of the pronoun?   

  "who invented the phone"   the antecedent of "who" is the man

→ Compare with:

“The man, who invented the phone, was Scottish.

Which difference(s) do you notice?

  les virgules, car la relative n'est pas indispensable à la compréhension; elle apporte juste des précisions. Elle est non déterminative (non- defining)

B)  Different pronouns

1)   Subject or object ?(=pronom sujet ou complément?)

1.  He is the man who won the war.   

     who is S

2.   The man whom you can see here is a genius.  

     whom is O

3.   The problems Ø  they could not explain helped them to create things.

 Ø is O

4.   The text which I read was on the blog.

which is O

 

2)   which antecedent ?

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

a)    If the pronouns are subjects :

human antecedent	Ex: the man who/that________   created the first TV was a Scot too. EX2: the scientist,_who_____ loved computers, was a hero.
non-human antecedent	EX: The picture  which/ that__  is funny is based on stereotypes. EX2: The text, which______ is on the blog, deals with Bristish culture.

b)   if the pronouns are objects :

human antecedent	The student_who/that/whom/ Ø__ you met is Tom. NB : The student,  who/ whom______      you saw before, is called Tom.
non-human antecedent	The text_which/ that /_Ø you read earlier is  an article… The document, _which________ you read earlier, is an article. (non-defining)

Going further

1)  whose

Observe: Elizabeth, whose father shouldn't have been king, has been queen for a long time....
We could also write: Elizabeth has been queen for a long time:    

___HER______ father shouldn't have been king.

 
→ What can you infer about “whose”?

Whose implique la possession (dont le père...)

2)  , which

We have understood everything, which is great news.

→ What does  “,which” refer to?
It refers to __"we have understood everything".

, which est un relative "de phrase"; il reprend non pas un mot mais tout un groupe de mots, voire une proposition.

3)  What

They said what the teacher wanted to hear.

 
→ Rephrase “what”?

They said      __the things that...___  the teacher wanted to hear.

 "what " inclut son antécédent; il équivaut à CE QUE.

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