Grammar: Connectives

Grammar: Connectives

Relative Pronouns used as Connectives (pronouns)

who/whom/whose/which/that/what/Which /what (adjectives) or when/where/why (adverbs) can introduce Relative clauses. These pronouns can connect two clauses (as in below).

who, which, that, whose, etc. are called Relative Pronouns which refer or relate to some nouns going before, called their Antecedents:

1.    A farmer is a person who grows food.

2.    She is the nurse (who) I met last week.

3.    He is the teacher whose classes we enjoy.

In sentence 1, person is the antecedent of who; in 2 nurse, is the antecedent of who (which being in the objective case can be omitted), and in 3, teacher is the antecedent of whose.

The above sentences can be made up of two (or more) clauses with the use of relative pronouns.
Look at the following examples:
A farmer is a person. A farmer grows food. - A farmer is a person who grows food.
She is the nurse. I met the nurse last week. - She is the nurse (whom) I met last week.
He is the teacher. We enjoy the teacher's classes. - He is the teacher whose classes we enjoy.
The fruit was not fresh. late the fruit yesterday. - The fruit (which) I ate yesterday was not fresh.
Mohan tells a story about a tiger. He met the tiger in the Terai. - Mohan tells a story about a tiger (which) he met in the Terai.
(In the above examples, who, which shown in brackets can be omitted.)

Defining Relative Clauses

The Relative Pronoun has these two main clauses - Defining and Non-defining.

A Defining Relative Clause defines the noun, pronoun or adverb in a sentence. It gives an answer to the question of who/whom/ whose/ what/ where. It is not enclosed with a comma:
A farmer is a person who grows food.
She is the singer whose songs we enjoy.
who, whom, whose, that, which can be used for both persons and things in a Defining Relative Clause as in the table below:

	Persons	Things
Subject	who, that	that, which
Object	That, whom	That, which
Possessive	Whose	Of which, whose
Prepositional	That ____ to	That ____ to

In Defining Relative Clauses, the Objective case is normally omitted. The form in the brackets in 2 above are less usual and it is better not to use them:

1.    The girl who has grey hair is my sister.

2.    The tree that stands by the gate has lovely flowers.

3.    The girl you met in the hall is a dancer.

4.    The book/ bought yesterday is interesting.

In sentences 1 and 2, who and that refer to the subject, but in 3 and 4 that is omitted. The clauses you met one in the hall and I bought yesterday are without that. Such clauses are called Contact-clauses.
‘who’ used as subject is more preferable than that, but ‘that’ is used with superlatives, and normally with any, only:
The man who (that) wrote this poem is coming to tea.
She is one of the best girls that have ever lived.
He's the only boy that climbed Everest.

Non-defining Relative Clauses

Non-defining Relative Clauses do not define the noun, but merely add something to it by giving some more information about it. They are not essential in the sentence and can be omitted without causing confusion. If we omit a Defining clause from the sentence it cannot make a sense in the sentence. Non- defining clauses which come parenthetically in the sentence are separated from their noun by commas. Compare:

1.    The boy (that) you met yesterday is lame.

2.    The boy, whom you met yesterday, is lame.

In sentence 1, the relative clause (that) you met yesterday the boy and is therefore a defining relative clause. In relative clause does not define the boy but simply add information about him, and this is a non-defining relative clause. 
Note also:
Defining: My sister who lives in Palpa has written me a letter. 
Non-defining: My sister, who lives in Palpa, has written me a letter.
Here, the Defining Relative Clause denotes, though he has many sisters, 'the one that lives in Palpa', and the Non-defining Relative clause indicates that he has only one sister and she lives in Palpa.

Relative Clauses

‘what’ is used for 'that + which' or 'the thing(s) + which', and where for 'the place in which':

He found the things. He wanted the things. - He found the things which he wanted. He found what he wanted.
I remember the house. I was born in the house. - I remember the house in which I was born. I remember the house where I was born.

Relative and Interrogative Links

who, what, which, where, why, etc. can be used as link-words to join clauses into a complex sentence. When the subjects of both sections (or clauses) are identical, it is usual to put an infinitive phrase, the sense of which is future. Note that who can be used in both subjective and objective cases:

I don't know what l must do=l don't know what to do.

Ask him where he must put it = Ask him where to put it.

Do you know how to make tea?
They don't know where your house is.

Complex Sentences

When the subjects are different, there must be different clauses in the complex sentence, Note that who is now heard in place of whom in the objective case or with end prepositions:
I have no idea when he will come.
She asked me how I had done it.
Do you know who you are talking to?