Unit 15: From Handel to Hendrix

Relative clauses

Defining relative clauses give us important information about the person, thing or place
that we are talking about. When making a relative clause, we can use the following relative
pronouns: who for people, that and which for things, and where for places.
The police officer arrested the man who robbed the bank.
In this example, who robbed the bank tells us which man the police officer arrested.
Without this information, we do not know which man was arrested.
David visited the place where we first met.
Again, where we first met tells us which place David visited.
These are the shoes that I bought in Tokyo.
Summer is the season which I enjoy the most.
That I bought in Tokyo adds information about the shoes, and which I enjoy the most
adds information about the season.

Form
A defining relative clause is made with noun + relative pronoun + rest of clause.
Positive
My father is the man who owns this restaurant.
The restaurant where we met closed down (cerr) last year.

Negative
This isnt the sandwich that I ordered.
David didnt recognise the woman who waved (salud) at him.

Question

Are you the person who called earlier?

Is this the cafe where you left your handbag?

Take note: using whom instead of who

In formal speech and written English, whom replaces who when the relative pronoun
refers to the object of the relative clause.
The person who called me was my father. (who = subject)
The person whom I called was my father. (who = object)

Spoken English
In informal speech, the pronoun that can replace who, which and where.
Jennifer is the woman that I love.
The library is the place that I feel the most relaxed.

If the relative pronoun functions as the object of the relative clause, the relative pronoun
can be left out (omitido) completely.
Kelly is the woman whom I love. = Kelly is the woman I love.
This is the bag that I bought. = This is the bag I bought.

However, if the relative pronoun is the subject of the relative clause, it cannot be left out.
Here, who refers to the subject.
Hes the man. He found my wallet.
Hes the man who found my wallet.
Therefore, the following sentence is incorrect:
Hes the man found my wallet.

What does 'novelist' mean?

When you are learning a new language, it's important to know how to ask about the
meaning of new words. It's easy to do: just use this question structure when you hear or
read a word you don't know:
What does [put your word here] mean?
For example you can ask: What does 'novelist' mean?
Remember this question - and use it when you need to find out what a new word means!

6 Minute Vocabulary
Homophones
Neil
Homophones, words that sound the same but have different spellings and different
meanings Lets listen to Mark and Jane.
Sophie
Marks just had an accident in the kitchen (cocina).

Jane
Whats wrong, Mark? You look really angry.
Mark
Whats wrong, Jane?! Cant you see? Ive got flour (harina) all over my jeans.
Jane
Youve got a flower on your jeans? I didnt know you liked pretty things
Mark
Not a flower, Jane. Flour! Look.
Jane
Ahh, Mark! Youre making me a birthday cake. Ahh

Neil
The kind of flour you use to make bread and cakes. And flour is spelt f-l-o-u-r.
Sophie
Jane thought it was a different kind of flower, f-l-o-w-e-r, the brightly coloured and sweetsmelling plant you might have in your garden.

Neil
flour, f-l-o-u-r, and flower, f-l-o-w-e-r, are homophones words that sound the same, but
have different spellings and different meanings. Now, homophones can be difficult to learn,
and the reason is because they sound exactly the same.
Neil
Mail, m-a-i-l, meaning letters and parcels you send in the post, and male, m-a-l-e, the
opposite of female.
Sophie
And heres another one: right, r-i-g-h-t, the opposite of left, and write, w-r-i-t-e, like write a
letter.
Neil
Heres one: peace, p-e-a-c-e, when its quiet and calm, and piece, p-i-e-c-e, a part of
something a piece of cake!
Sophie
And one more: tail, t-a-i-l, the long, narrow part that sticks out of the back of an animal's
body and tale, t-a-l-e, a kind of story.
Neil
And now its time for a quiz. Im going to read a sentence with one of the homophones
from todays show. Try to spell the word correctly as you listen and Sophie will tell you the
answers afterwards (despus).
Neil
Number one. Ben gave his girlfriend a flower for Valentines Day. Now how do you
spell flower there?
Sophie
Unless (a menos que) she wanted to bake (hornear) bread, he gave her a flower, f-l-o-we-r.
Neil
Correct. Number two. The dog is wagging (meneando) its tail. How do you spell tail?
Sophie
This is part of an animals body, so its t-a-i-l.
Neil
Finally: The postman (cartero) put the letters on the table on the right. How do you
spell right?
Sophie
The tables on the right, not on the left, so its r-i-g-h-t.
Sophie
Heres todays top tip for learning vocabulary. Homophones are difficult to spell correctly

when you hear them because they sound the same. So, if you think a word might be a
homophone, read or listen to the words around it very carefully. That will help you get a
better idea what word it is and how to spell it.

Getting a handle (comenzando a entender) on relative clauses

Relative clauses these add information about people, places, and things to sentences
and they are useful when explaining or defining something.
Look at the following examples:
This is the house where Virginia Woolf lived.
Handel was a German composer who lived in London in the 18th Century.
The guitar which/that Jimi Hendrix used for most of his performances was a
Fender Stratocaster.
As you can see, we use where, who, which, and that with relative clauses but when do
we use these words?
The answer is simple we use where to add information about a place (a country, city,
building, or other space); we use who to give details about a person; and we use which to
begin a relative clause about an item, an idea, or a thing. That can sometimes be used in
place of which, and it can also sometimes be used in place of who. Look at the following
examples:
The demonstration which/that Logie Baird gave in 1926 was the first time the world
watched TV!
Florence Nightingale is someone who/that I really admire.
We cant use that in place of where, however.
University College of London has a blue plaque to show where Charles Darwin
used to live.
In informal speech, the pronoun that can replace who, which and where.
Jennifer is the woman that I love.
The library is the place that I feel the most relaxed.

In all of these examples, the relative clause adds some important information about the
person, place or thing mentioned in the sentence. These clauses can be used to explain,
define, or emphasise something or to give specific information about it.
For example, if someone hasnt heard of Handel, we could tell them: He was a famous
composer who lived 300 years ago.
When we say: This is the house where Virginia Woolf lived we are describing what is
special about this house and what makes it different from the many other houses in the
street.
We can also use relative clauses for emphasis. We could simply say: Handel was born in
Germany but he lived in London but we can highlight (destacar) this contrast by
saying: Handel was born in Germany but London is the city where he lived.
Of course (desde luego), we may already know who Jimi Hendrix is and we definitely know
what a guitar is but we can say: The guitar which/that Jimi Hendrix used for most of
his performances was a Fender Stratocaster to give information about a specific guitar.
Relative clauses can be used in the middle or at the end of a sentence. The important
thing is that the relative clause will usually come directly after the person, place, or thing it
describes.
So, we if we want to give some information about Florence Nightingale, we can explain:
She was the woman who set up (cre) the nursing school at St. Thomass
Hospital.
But, if we want to focus on the hospital, we can structure the sentence as follows:
She worked at St. Thomass hospital, where she set up a special nursing school.

Which, where or that?

A bit more about choosing the right relative clause

We learned that we use where for relative clauses about places and which or that for
relative clauses about things.

Now, lets look at these examples:

Mayfair is a London district where many famous people have lived.
It is a place which/that has many blue plaques.

This is the building where Handel and Hendrix rented apartments.

This is the building which/that is home (alberga) to Handel House.

In two of these sentences, we have used which/that to describe places. Why?

Think about it which relative clauses describe something that happens/happened in a
particular place? And which relative clauses give information about the whole place?
We use where for relative clauses that give information about something in a place. We
heard that Handel and Hendrix lived in that building. They rented apartments there. So we
say: This is the building where Handel and Hendrix rented apartments.
We use which when we are giving some information about the whole place. We see a
building. We are told that it (as in all of it, the entire place) is home to Handel House. So,
we can say: This is the building which/that is home to Handel House.

Lets look at some more examples:

Broadcasting House is the building where the Learning English team work (They
work there/in that building).
Broadcasting House is the BBCs main building which was recently redeveloped
(The whole building/It was redeveloped).
London is the city where you can see Buckingham Palace, Big Ben, and the River
Thames (all of these sights (monumentos) are there/in London).
London is the city which hosted (recibi) the 2012 Olympic Games (The whole city
hosted the event).

The structure of relative clauses

Putting relatives clauses together - in the right way!

Sentences with relative clauses are essentially two sentences that have been linked
together (relacionadas entre s). This helps us avoid (evitar) long explanations or repeating
words unnecessarily.
Look at these examples:

Mayfair is a district in London. It (the district of Mayfair) is famous for its expensive
houses.
When we join these sentences with a relative clause, this is the result:
Mayfair is a district of London which/that is famous for its expensive houses*.
Here, the relative clause has joined the sentences together with which replacing it (we do
not say which it is famous for.)
*Be careful here! Although which comes directly after London in the sentence, it refers to
the district of London (Mayfair), not the city itself.
Isaac Newton was a British scientist. He (Newton, the scientist) developed the
theory of gravity.
Connected by a relative clause, these sentences become:
Isaac Newton was a British scientist who developed the theory of gravity.
Who replaces he in this example and refers to the scientist himself.
A white Fender Stratocaster guitar is on display (expuesta) in The Experience Music
Project museum in Seattle. Jimi Hendrix used it (the guitar) at Woodstock.
When we connect the information in these sentences with a relative clause, we get:
A white Fender Stratocaster guitar which/that Jimi Hendrix used at Woodstock is
on display in The Experience Music Project museum in Seattle.

The relative clause begins after the object it refers to (the guitar) and which/that replaces
it from the separated sentences (we do not say which Jimi Hendrix used it)

6 Minute Grammar
Defining relative clauses

Alice
Defining relative clauses give information about a noun in a sentence or question. They
define - or, give more information about - the thing that we are talking about. Here's
Catherine with our first example:

Catherine
Have you seen the shoes that I bought today?
Finn
The defining relative clause is the phrase that I bought today - and it tells us which
shoes Catherine is talking about.
Alice
Catherine probably has several pairs of shoes: adding the phrase that I bought
today tells us exactly which shoes she means.
Finn
We start with a noun and then we add a relative pronoun, such as who or that, plus a verb
phrase. The relative pronoun who is for people... Catherine.
Catherine
The man who owns this restaurant is my best friend.
Alice
So the defining relative clause who owns this restaurant tells us exactly which man is
Catherine's best friend.
Finn
The pronoun which is for things, and we use that for both people and things. Here's an
example with which.
Catherine
Spring is the season which I enjoy the most.
Finn
To give more information about a thing - the season - we add the relative pronoun - which,
plus the verb phrase I enjoy the most.
Alice
Here's another example.
Catherine
That woman is the doctor who saw me yesterday.
Finn
This time, the pronoun who refers to the doctor. And the doctor is the subject of the verb
saw - the doctor saw Catherine.
Alice
Who refers to the subject of the verb: The doctor who saw me yesterday. Now this next
example is slightly (ligeramente) different: listen carefully.
Catherine
That woman is the doctor who I saw yesterday.

Alice
Again, who refers to the doctor. But this time, the doctor is the object of the verb sawCatherine saw the doctor.
Finn
So the rule is: when the pronoun refers to the subject, it's:
Catherine
She's the doctor who saw me yesterday.
Alice
And when the pronoun refers to the object, it's:
Catherine
She's the doctor who I saw yesterday.
Alice
Now some people like to use whom instead of who in object relative clauses:
Catherine
...the doctor whom I saw...
Alice
And that's fine. Whom is correct here.
Finn
Although (aunque) who is probably more common in spoken English these days.
Finn
And now it's quiz time. They're all about Harry Potter, these questions. I'll say some key
words and you have to make them into a sentence with a defining relative clause. Here's
the first one. Robbie Coltrane - actor - play - Hagrid.
Alice
Robbie Coltrane is the actor who played Hagrid... in Harry Potter.
Finn
And another one: Hogwarts - school - Harry Potter - go.
Alice
Hogwarts is the school that Harry Potter went to.
Finn
Very good. Last one: Hermione - marry - Ron Weasley.
Alice
Hermione is the girl who married Ron Weasley.
Finn
Or as an object clause it's:
Alice
Hermione is the girl who Ron Weasley married.

Finn
Now before we finish, there's just time to mention that, in everyday English, it's fine to
leave out (excluir) the pronoun completely when the relative pronoun is the object of the
relative clause.
Alice
For example: Hermione is the girl who Ron Weasley married becomes:
Finn
Hermione is the girl Ron Weasley married.