Welcome Relative Pronouns Milly Grillone FAO International Consultant

Welcome! Relative Pronouns Milly Grillone FAO International Consultant

Simple Rules Mr Ryan, who is the director of the library, will travel to Italy The Family Bookshop, which contains a collection on history of art, is located in Aburumani WHICH for Things WHO for People PS: “, who is the director of the library, ” is droppable and the meaning does not change Wrong use of commas u Mr Ryan, who is the director of the library will travel to Italy u Mr Ryan who is the director of the library, will travel to Italy

Who and whom The man whom I marry will be a globetrotter I will waste my life with somebody whom I don’t love and who will make my life miserable These are the people with whom I work This is the ambassador whom you saw last month u WHO Object in informal style u WHOM Object in formal style

Connection between clauses My mum will come to Syria, which is a beautiful country I found the keys which you were looking for (not…which you were looking for them) This is the ambassador whom you saw last month This is the kind of job which might interest you

Which referring to a whole clause He got married again a year later, which surprised everybody (the fact that he married again surprised everybody)

Word Order My neighbors, who do not like music, complain all the time (not. . My neighbors complain all the time, who do not like music) The relative pronoun should immediately follow the noun it refers to. Mr Stephenson visited Italy last year for Christmas which is a beautiful country.

Whose I got to know a guy whose car is slower than a turtle (the car of whom) I saw a star whose beauty took my breath away (the beauty of which)

Identifying versus Non-Identifying Clauses I married a man whom I met on a bus (I) You married a very nice young engineer from Barcelona, whom you met on a bus (NI)

THAT u It can refer to things, and in an informal style to people. In non- identifying clauses “that” is unusual (better to use “which/who”) u It is common in identifying clauses I am reading the proceedings, which are really interesting (if you write ”I am reading the proceedings that are really interesting” you imply that there are other proceedings, less interesting than those ones) This is Widad, who organizes the Agricultural Policy Forum (not “that organizes”) u It is used 1. As a conjunction The only thing that upsets me is lying 2. As a relative pronoun She married a man that she met on a bus It cannot be substituted by what