English_Grammar_in_Use

Relative clauses (3) - whose, whom, and where

II WeWhoseuse whose in relative clauses instead of his/her/their:

we saw some people - Itheir I car had broken down

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We saw some people Iwhose I car had broken down. We use whose mostly for people:

•A widow is a woman whose husband is dead. (her husband is dead)

•What's the name of the girl whose car you borrowed? (you borrowed her car)

•The other day I met someone whose brother I went to school with. (I went to school with his brother)

IIWhom is possible instead of who (for people) when it is the object of the verb in the relative clause (like the sentences in Unit 85):

•The man whom I wanted to see was away on vacation. (I wanted to see him)

You can also use whom with a preposition (to/from/with whom, etc.):

• The woman with whom he fell in love left him after a few weeks. (he fell in love with her)

But we do not often use whom. In spoken English we normally prefer who or that (or you can leave them out - see Unit 85):

•The man (who/that) I wanted to see ...

•The woman (who/that) he fell in love with ...

For whom see also Units 87 and 88.

II Where

You can use where in a relative clause to talk about places:

the hotelwe stayed I there 1- wasn't very clean

---i> The hotel Iwhere I we stayed wasn't very clean.

•I recently went back to the town where I was born. (or the town (that) I was born in)

•I would like to live in a country where there is plenty of sunshine.

IIWe use that (or we leave it out) when we say the day / the year / the time, (etc.) that something happened:

•Do you still remember the day (that) we first met?

•The last time (that) I saw her, she looked very well.

•I haven't seen them since the year (that) they got married.

II You can say the reason why something happens or the reason that something happens. You can also leave out why and that:

• The reason (why/that) I'm calling you is to invite you to a party.

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UNIT 86 Exercises

:• You were on vacation with a friend ofyours. You met some people who had some bad experiences during their vacation. You met:

1.some people / their car broke down

2.a man / his wife got sick and was taken to the hospital

3.a woman / her husband was arrested by the police

4.a girl / her passport was stolen

5.a couple / their luggage disappeared

You can't recall the names of these people. Ask your friend, making sentences with whose.

:• The sentences in this exercise are not complete. Complete them with where .... Use the sentences in the box to make your relative clauses.

:• Complete the sentences with a relative clause. Use the sentences in the box to make your relative clauses.

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U NIT

87 Relative clauses (4) - "extra information" clauses (1)

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UNIT 87 Exercises

Write these sentences again, giving extra information in a relative clause. Sometimes the relative clause is in the middle of the sentence, sometimes at the end. Use the sentence in parentheses ( ... ) to make your relative clauses.

Examples: Tom's father goes swimming every day. (Tom's father is 78.)

1Qm.~.:fathe.r:,..wh(J..i~··7.~,··9(le.S.s.wimmin.9·ff:y.ey.'!l.d.f!V.· .

She told me her address. (I wrote her address down on a piece of paper.)

She.toJd...me.he.r..arl.r.tr:.e.SS,...which..1.. I1I.y.o.te.dawYJ..(J.()..d.pie.ce.f)f.pafler.

4.Joan is one of my closest friends. (I have known Joan for eight years.)

5.That man over there is an artist. (I don't remember his name.) (use whose)

6.Opposite our house there is a nice park. (There are some beautiful trees in this park.)

7.The storm caused a lot of damage. (Nobody had been expecting the storm.)

8.Themail carrier was late this morning. (The mail carrier is nearly always on time.)

9.We often go to visit our friends in Baltimore. (Baltimore is only 30 miles away.)

10.Mr. Edwards has gone into the hospital for some tests. (His health hasn't been good

11.Jack looks much nicer without his beard. (His beard made him look much older.)

12.I went to see the doctor. (The doctor told me to rest for a few days.)

13.Thank you for your letter. (I was very happy to get your letter.)

14.A friend of mine helped me to get a job. (His mother is the manager of a company.) (use

15.Next weekend I'm going to Montreal. (My sister lives in Montreal.) (use where)

16.The population of London is now falling. (London was once the largest city in the

17.I looked up at the moon. (The moon was very bright that evening.)

18.We spent a pleasant day by the lake. (We had a picnic by the lake.) (use where)

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U NIT

Relative clauses (5) - "extra information" clauses (2)

•Prepositions + whom/which

In "extra information" clauses you can use a preposition before whom (for people) and which (for things). So you can say "to whom / with whom / about which / for which," etc.:

•Mr. Carter, to whom I spoke last night, is very interested in our plan.

•Fortunately we had a map, without which we would have gotten lost.You should study Unit 87 before you study this unit.

But in spoken English we often keep the preposition after the verb in the relative clause. When we do this, we normally use who (not whom):

•This is Mr. Carter, who I was telling you about.

•Yesterday we visited the National Museum, which I'd never been to before.

Jack has three brothers. All ofthem are married. (2 sentences)

~Jack has three brothers, all of whom are married. (1 sentence)

Ann has a lot of books. She hasn't read most of them. (2 sentences)

~Ann has a lot of books, most of which she hasn't read. (1 sentence)

•He tried on three jackets, none of which fit him.

•They've got three cars, two of which they never use.

•Sue has a lot of friends, many of whom she went to school with.

•Two men, neither of whom I had seen before, came into my office.

IIWhich (not what) Study this example:

In this example which = the fact that he passed his driving test. You cannot use what instead of which in sentences like this:

•She couldn't come to the party, which was a pity. (not . .. what was a pity)

•The weather was very good, which we hadn't expected. (not . .. what we hadn't expected)

For what see Unit 85c.

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UNIT 88 Exercises

:: Write these sentences again, giving extra information in a relative clause. Use the sentences in parentheses ( ... ) to make your relative clauses.

Example: Mr. Carter is interested in our plan. (I spoke to him on the phone last night.)

!.1t:...Car:'Cer.,..wha.1..sp-oJ(e.tIJ..OY.1. "the.phone.la.s.t.I1i.g.ht.,.is. JK1ter:f1$.tetiin.ow::p/an. or: 11.t: .CiJt:tt:.r.,.ta. whamJ..spoJf.e. .OY.J. :thephoY.Jelast. wgb.t.,.is. In.teas.tetI.. in .tJ.ltlt:p/an.

3.I've just bought some books about astronomy. (I'm very interested in astronomy.)

:: Make sentences with all of/most of, etc. + whom/which.

Example: Jack has three brothers. All of them are married .

2.There were a lot of people at the party. I had met only a few of them before.

3.I have sent him two letters. Neither of them has arrived.

4.Norman won $50,000. He gave half of it to his parents.

5.Ten people applied for the job. None of them were qualified.

6.Tom made a number of suggestions. Most of them were very helpful.

:: Complete these sentences, giving extra information in a relative clause. Use the sentences in the box to make your relative clauses.

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-ing and -ed clauses ("the woman talking to Tom," "the man injured in the accident")

II A clause is a part of a sentence. Some clauses begin with -ing or oed:

• Do you know the woman Italking to Tom I? (-ing clause)

• The man Iinjured in the accident Iwas taken to the hospital. (-ed clause)

We use -ing clauses to say what someone (or something) is doing or was doing at a particular time:

•Do you know the woman talking to Tom? (the woman is talking to Tom)

•The police officers investigating the robbery are looking for three men. (the police officers are investigating the robbery)

•I was awakened by a bell ringing. (the bell was ringing)

•Who was that man standing outside? (the man was standing outside)

•Can you hear someone singing? (someone is singing)

For see/hear someone doing something see Unit 63.

When you are talking about things (and sometimes people), you can use an -ing clause for permanent characteristics (what something does all the time, not just at a particular time):

•The road joining the two villages is very narrow. (the road joins the two villages)

•I live in a pleasant room overlooking the garden. (the room overlooks the garden)

IIoed clauses have a passive meaning:

•The man injured in the accident was taken to the hospital. (the man was injured in the accident)

•None of the people invited to the party can come. (the people have been invited to the party)

Injured and invited are past participles. Many verbs have irregular past participles that do not end in oed. For example: stolen/made/bought/written, etc.:

•The money stolen in the robbery was never found. (the money was stolen in the robbery)

•Most of the goods made in this factory are exported. (the goods are made in this factory)

For a full list of irregular verbs see Appendix 2.

II We often use -ing and oed clauses after there is / there was, etc.:

• Is there anybody waiting to see me?

• There were some children swimming in the river.

• When I arrived, there was a big red car parked outside the house. For more information about -ing clauses see Unit 64.

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UNIT 89 Exercises

;• Rewrite the sentences. Each time use the information in parentheses ( ... ) to make an -ing clause.

Example: That woman is Australian. (she is talking to Tom)

•This time make an -ed clause.

Example: The man was taken to the hospital. (he was injured in the accident)

1he..m8Y.l.il'1j.4lr:ed..in..the ..ac.cident..wQs.tak.en..'(;p..the..haspitaJ•..........

2.Most of the suggestions were not very practical. (they were made at the meeting)

3.The paintings haven't been found yet. (they were stolen from the museum)

4.Did you hear about the boy? (he was knocked down on his way to school this morning)

Complete these sentences with the following verbs. Put the verb in the correct form:

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Adjectives ending in -ing and -ed (boring/bored, etc.)

II There are many pairs of adjectives ending in -ing and oed. For example: boring and bored. Study this example situation:

Jane has been doing the same job for a very long time. Every day she does exactly the same thing over and over. She doesn't enjoy it any more and would like to do something different.

Jane's job is boring.

Jane is bored (with her job).

Someone is oed if something (or someone) is -ing. Or, if something is -ing, it makes you oed. So:

•Jane is bored because her job is boring.

•Jane's job is boring, so Jane is bored. (not Jane is boring)

Now study these examples:

Someone is interested because something (or someone) is interesting:

•Tom is interested in politics. (not interesting in politics)

•Tom finds politics interesting.

•Are you interested in buying a car?

•Did you meet anyone interesting at the party?

Someone is surprised because something is surprising:

•Everyone was surprised that she passed the exam.

•It was surprising that she passed the exam.

Someone is disappointed because something is disappointing:

•I was disappointed with the movie. I expected it to be much better.

•The movie was disappointing. I expected it to be much better.

Someone is tired because something is tiring:

•He is always very tired when he gets home from work.

•He has a very tiring job.

II Other pairs of adjectives ending in -ing and oed are:

180

UNIT 90 Exercises

•I Complete two sentences for each situation. Use an adjective ending in -iog or -ed to complete each sentence.

Example: The movie wasn't as good as we had expected. (disappoint-)

a)The movie was .dist3.PP(Jiy.rtl.~q.....

b)We were .disappain:t.ea.... with the movie.

•Choose the right adjective.

Example: I was ~g / disappointed with the movie. I had expected it to be better.

1.We were all horrifying/horrified when we heard about the disaster.

2.It's sometimes embarrassing/embarrassed when you have to ask people for money.

3.Are you interesting/interested in soccer?

4.I enjoyed the soccer game. It was very exciting/excited.

5.It was a really terrifying/terrified experience. Afterward everybody was very shocking/shocked.

6.I had never expected to be offered the job. I was really amazing/amazed when I got it.

7.The kitchen hadn't been cleaned for ages. It was really disgusting/disgusted.

8.Do you get embarrassing/embarrassed easily?

•I Complete these sentences with an adjective ending in -iog or -ed. The first letter(s) ofthe adjective are given each time.

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