Questions tagged [relative-clauses]
A clause used to join two sentences together, or to provide more information about something.
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At what point should I add a comma after a relative clause
I read an article that said, the general rule of thumb Is "Defining relative clause" do not need a comma before the relative clause. An example is this:
The students who work hard are more ...
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Determining relative clause
I am reading a mathematics book and I am quite confused at this highlighted sentence (it's not about the mathematical context but about the grammar):
Is a verb missing in the relative clause "...
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Can we use non-relative clauses as descriptive modifiers?
In most grammar books, adjective/relative clauses are limited to specific constructs involving words such as 'that' or 'which' (as two of multiple examples):
[1] The house that I grew up in
There ...
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Comma after a conditional clause in the middle of a sentence
The description of some algorithm (searching in a program-transition graph for a program state with certain properties) finishes with
We return “true” if we find such a state(,) and “false” otherwise....
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Use of comma in reduced adjective/relative clause
My first question is whether
1) The students who were well-organized passed the exam
==
2) [reduced adjective clause] The students, being well-organized, passed the exam.
If yes, my second ...
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I think a non-restrictive relative clause cannot be used when the word before the clause is indefinite - am I wrong?
Relative clauses are categorized into two types in terms of restricting meaning: restrictive clauses and non-restrictive clauses.
In my view, a non-restrictive relative clause cannot be used when the ...
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I found a box of game cards which when I was a kid, my friends gave me - is this writing style acceptable?
The when-clauses below modify the main actions in the adjective clauses.
But can I reverse it and change their positions to the front, like the positions of the ones in bold in Example 2 and Example 4?...
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Can a 'before' clause function as a noun complement?
It was a time before I knew you.
In this sentence, the subordinate clause 'before I knew you' acts as an adjectival noun complement to 'time'. 'Before' is not a relative adverb that I am aware of, so ...
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What does 'each cookie Emilia took to work' mean?
The following is one of question sentences from this exercise on Khan Academy.
The dot plot below shows how many chocolate chips were in each cookie Emilia took to work.
What does 'each cookie ...
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"His teacher friend Sam helped me a lot." Is it grammatically correct?
Kindly suggest which sentence is most correct.
His teacher friend Sam helped me a lot.
His friend Sam, a teacher...
His friend Sam who is a teacher...
Which is the suitable construction?
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"The prices of medical supplies got higher, leading to more COVID cases."
Can a whole sentence work as a subject of present participle clause? Can I write like this (is this grammatically correct)?
The prices of medical supplies got higher, leading to more COVID cases.
(...
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Does 'which' in 'at which point' stand for the entire clause?
He went inside to find his keys, at which point he discovered the note.
In this sentence, does 'which' (a relative determiner) substitute for the entire clause 'He went inside to find his keys'? I am ...
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taste or smell like (that of) a lemon
Sour things have a sharp, sometimes unpleasant, taste or smell like a lemon.
Sour things have a sharp, sometimes unpleasant, taste or smell like that of a lemon. ("that"= the taste or smell)...
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Why isn't there a comma before 'which'?
There is a sentence I found in one book:
There was also the not negligible risk of brigandage which remained
common the world over - a marginal symbol of widespread and permanent
economic and social ...
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How do I phrase this restrictive relative clause
X has problems cooperating with certain people. Now I need to refer to these people using a restrictive relative clause, but I can’t seem to find a way to do this… I have thought of the constructions ...
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What does the "which" refer to in this sentence?
I'm an English learner struggling to decipher the following sentence:
To a medical student the final examinations are something like death: an unpleasant inevitability to be faced sooner or later, ...
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What does the "which" refer to in this sentence?
I'm an English learner struggling to decipher the following sentence:
To a medical student the final examinations are something like death: an unpleasant inevitability to be faced sooner or later, one'...
chocojunkie
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"Do you know where Eiffel Tower is?" or "Do you know where is Eiffel Tower?" [duplicate]
Can we swap the word order in these two sentences to get the same meaning:
1)Do you know where Eiffel Tower is?
2)Do you know where is Eiffel Tower?
Similarly can we swap the words in this sentence:...
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"In whose symbolic shadow we stand today"
Five score years ago, a great American, in whose symbolic shadow we stand today, signed the Emancipation Proclamation.
It's a line from Martin Luther King's famous speech, I wonder if it is inverted?
...
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Does Relative pronoun in relative clause always follows the noun it modifies/referes?
I have studied about relative clauses in many blogs and i noticed in every blog that, the relative pronoun was followed by the noun it modifies, is it thumb rule of relative clause? Or any situations ...
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The Omission of an Object Before a Clause
In the sentence Find where I parked my car the object of this sentecne seems to be:
Find (the place) where I parked my car.
Can anyone tell me in this sentence why the object, the place, is omittable?
...
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one of which vs. one of whom
a. We had seven employees one of whom could speak French fluently.
b. We had seven employees one of which could speak French fluently.
Which of the above sentences is grammatically correct?
I think (a)...
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Possessive pronoun vs "the" when followed by a restrictive relative pronoun
A: Her sister is a good friend of mine
B: Which one?
A: The/her sister who worked here years ago.
Are both, the/possessive pronouns correct here?
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those of you who
a. You, who live here, will eventually have to leave.
b. You who live here will eventually have to leave.
Are both of the above acceptable?
Is there any difference in their meanings?
Could (b) be used ...
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Should I place a comma between the two dependent clauses?
Here are the two examples; please tell me if I should place a comma between the two dependent clauses that come before the main clause. I'd also like an explanation, please.
Example# 1:
(with a comma)
...
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Where is the subject/object of this quote?
I'm kind of confused at the moment, in this sentence,
The students who/that were involved in the march were arrested.
Is the students the subject? or perhaps the object? It seems that the relative ...
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Reduced Relative Clauses which modify an object of the verb
a- I gave a book, which was written by Hemingway, to Mary last
week.
b- I gave a book, written by Hemingway, to Mary last week.
As far as I know I can reduce the sentence a to b. But here the website ...
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whom vs who relative clauses
Does it have the same meaning to say:
you are the woman who I love
You are the woman whom I love
I know the 2 is more appropriate but I would like to know if the first is also valid
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Can I omit an object after 'those who + verb?'
Those who speak English respect those who don't speak English.
Those who speak English respect those who don't speak.
Those who speak English respect those who don't.
I believe the first and third ...
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People aren’t inanimate features of a building
For example, if you were afraid of standing on balconies, you would start on some lower floors and slowly work your way up(literally) to higher ones.
Facing your fears isn’t as easy or tidy when it ...
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“Some day/time” if “some” modifies and specifies a more particular day/time
The adverbs someday and sometime express future time
indefinitely: Let's meet sometime when your schedule permits.
The two-word forms are always used when some is an adjective
modifying and specifying ...
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We are such stuff (as) dreams are made on
We are such stuff (as) dreams are made on
Is as optional here?
CONTEXT
We are such stuff as dreams are made on (Shakespeare, The Tempest, Act 4, scene 1, modernized spelling).
In sentences of this ...
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"that-clause" as relative clause vs as pronoun clause
I am confused by the difference between:
It is contention about the consequence of an economic arrangement that
is incompatible with the needs of any place.
and
It is contention about the ...
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Is "that" a conjunction or relative pronoun in the following sentence? [closed]
It comes as no surprise that Taiwan has the highest density of convenience stores in the world.
Is "that" a conjunction or relative pronoun in this sentence?
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"That's your only friend that I've ever met." Why is this an impossible sentence?
I read the following usage note in The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language's entry for "of":
Grammarians have sometimes condemned categorically the so-called double ...
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Defining or non defining relative clause?
In the passing away of Mr XYZ, we have lost a colossal sportsperson, who captured the nation’s imagination and...
Q: Do we need the comma after "sportsperson"? With the comma, does "who&...
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Struggle determining which relative clause has extra information
Preliminary
Based on my book, there are two types of relative clauses: "The relative clauses that tell you which person or thing (or what kind of person or thing) the speaker means" and &...
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Relative clause and ending the sentence with preposition
I took one problem from my book:
A friend is going to the cinema. You want to know the name of the
film. You say:
Key answer: What's the name of the film you're going to see?
Can I say something ...
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an attributive clause or adverbial clause?
They give me more time to spend as they see fit.
Here, is “as they see fit” a attributive clause or a adverbial clause?
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Is the preposition "for" missing, though at the end of the relative clause?
I've come across this sentence in a document.
Newly-built village houses refer to village houses for which a certificate of compliance is applied.
Is a "for" missing after "applied&...
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When to use Relative pronoun
In the sentence below, the relative pronoun "which" is used after "many of". What about using "them" instead of "which"? Would it be grammatical and would there ...
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use a relative pronoun inside of another one
I would like to know whether one can use a relative pronoun inside of another one. For instance,
I should finish my homework before 5 pm when I would like to watch a movie, which is a Nolan's movie.
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is it grammatical to say "what happened that..."? [closed]
I have been using this construction "what happened that...", that clause being a relative clause, for so long. Now come to think of it, it doesn't sound grammatical. I mean, that clause is a ...
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What does the ‘that which’ mean here?
This is a paragraph from the English version of ‘Ich und Du’ by Martin Buber published by Bloomsbury on page 19. Can anyone tell me what do the ‘that’ and ‘it’ in ‘with that which meets it’ refer to?
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What happened to the missing object or objects in “for us to define as we see fit”?
Reading through this paragraph, I wonder why the object to see is missing from as we see
fit, even though the interpretation remains natural and smooth without it:
In 1783, Goethe wrote, “Nature is ...
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Relative clauses with two verbs
Which one is correct?
A. Those viewers who do not understand this language well and they
want to learn the lesson should see the subtitles.
B. Those viewers who do not understand this language well ...
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Is it possible to combine two sentences structured like this: if A then B. if no A then no B
The following two sentences seem redundant. How do I combine them into a single sentence?
Shortcomings are actually valuable opportunities that enable you to explore your potentials.
Without ...
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What does it modify? The noun "heat" or the whole phrase "the value of heat"?
I'd like to learn what the part "for the preservation of food" modifies in the following sentence, the noun "heat" or the whole phrase "the value of heat" .
The value of ...
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Should I use a comma before a reduced and defining relative clause in this sentence?
A simple linear relationship between force and displacement known as
Hooke's Law was discovered in the 1600s.
I wrote this sentence and intended to use a reduced and defining relative clause, "...
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Isn't it wrong to say "dependent clauses can't stand alone"?
Everyone says "dependent clauses are the ones that can't stand alone." I think that's a wrong interpretation of subordinate clauses. By that logic, even independent clauses can't stand alone....
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