Understanding English Grammar: A Course Book for chinese Learners of English

10. Relative Clauses

Introduction In Units 8 and 9, we saw that a subordinate clause (both finite and non-finite) functions as part of another clause, by being its subject, object, complement or adverbial. For example, in sentence 1, the underlined subordinate clause (‘what you said’) is the object of the sentence: 1. I heard what you said. ‘What you said’ is an object just like any other object, e.g. ‘a song’ in: 2. I heard a song. But there is one other type of clause which is even ‘lower’ than that. It is not even part of a clause (like a subject, object or complement), but only part of a noun phrase. The noun phrase itself may function as the subject, object or complement, but the clause is only part of that. Let’s look at the following example: 3. I heard [a song which was composed by a 12th-century nun]. The clause ‘which was composed by a 12th-century nun’ is only part of the noun phrase [a song which was composed by a 12th-century nun], and the whole noun phrase functions as the object of the above sentence. 10 Relative Clauses 144 Understanding English Grammar QUESTION 1 Underline the object in sentences 1–3, and the subject in sentences 4–6: 1. He knows the answer. 2. He knows that matter is a form of energy. 3. He knows the formula which Einstein discovered. 4. The rumour is true. 5. What he told me is true. 6. The rumour which he told me is true. What you should have noticed in the above question is that the object in (3) is ‘the formula which Einstein discovered’ and the subject in (6) is ‘the rumour which he told me’, and that clauses like: ‘which Einstein discovered’ ‘which he told me’ are only part of the noun phrases [the formula which Einstein discovered] and [the rumour which he told me] respectively. Relative Clauses The ‘which he told me’type of clause is known as a relative clause. A relative clause is part of a noun phrase, and it ‘modifies’ (or says something about) the noun. Students make a lot of mistakes with relative clauses, or else avoid using them entirely, so it is worthwhile trying to understand and use them properly. The first and most basic kind of mistake is to treat the noun and the relative clause as two separate things. Look at the following sentences: 7. The nice young man apologized to me. 8. The man who stepped on my foot apologized to me. When asked what the subject is, many students would say ‘the nice young man’ in (7), but ‘the man’ in (8). In other words, they treat ‘the nice young man’ as one single noun phrase, but not ‘the man who stepped on my foot’, even though both ‘nice young’ and ‘who stepped on my foot’ modify (or describe) the noun ‘man’. Relative Clauses 145 Why should students make such a mistake? Part of the reason is that, in Chinese, everything that modifies a noun must come before it. Thus, sentence 8 in Chinese would be 8a. ‘ !"#$ ! ’ (‘[The step on my foot man] to me apologize’). Students would have no trouble identifying the subject of the Chinese sentence 8a as ‘the step on my foot man’( !"#$%). They expect the noun ‘man’to come at the end of the noun phrase, and all its modifiers to come before it. But in English, they have some difficulty recognizing ‘the man who stepped on my foot’as one single noun phrase, because ‘who stepped on my foot’ comes after ‘man’. So here’s the first point to remember: • In a noun phrase in English, a relative clause follows the noun, but it still forms one single noun phrase with the noun (just as much as an adjective before it). So all of the following are equally noun phrases, and all of them can be replaced by a single pronoun, ‘he’: [the man] [the nice young man] [the man who stepped on my foot] [the nice young man who stepped on my foot] QUESTION 2 In each of the following sentences, there is a noun phrase which contains a relative clause. Put brackets around each of these noun phrases: 1. The Egyptian plane which disappeared over the Atlantic Ocean was carrying nearly 200 passengers. 2. The news which most excited Hong Kongers in recent years was...