DEFINING RELATIVE CLAUSES WITH WHO, THAT AND WHICH

J. Estudia los ejemplos:

I spoke to the woman who owns the hotel.

Did you see the letter which came this morning?

Who owns the hotel y that came this morning son defining relative c1auses. Nos dan información para
identificar por un lado a the woman y por otro a the letter, Es decir' nos dicen a que mujer y a que carta se
refiere el que habla.

Usamos: Who para referirnos a gente. Which para referirnos a cosas. Observa que tanto Who como which
sustituyen a los pronombres sujeto (I/ you/He etc) dentro de la frase. Por lo tanto funcionan como sujeto.

1 spoke lo the woman who owns the hotel. (No: 1 spoke lo the woman who she owns the hotel.)

Podemos usar that en lugar de which y de who.

Did you see the letter that carne this morning?

En estilo informal podemos incluso encontramos that en lugar de who.

J spoke to the woman that owns the hotel.

¿CUANDO SE PUEDEN OMITIR WHO, THAT y WHICH EN UNA DEFINING RELATIVE

CLAUSE?

Who / that y which pueden ser sujeto u objeto en una defining relative clause.

María is the girl who invited us to the party.

Who funciona como sujeto. She invited us to the party.

María is the girl who(m) we met last night.

Who funciona como objeto: we met her last night.

Cuando who, that o which funcionan como objeto, se pueden omitir.

María is the girl we met last night.

Pero no podemos omitir who, that o which cuando funcionan como sujeto.

María is the girl who invited us to the party.

Podemos usar whom en lugar de who , cuando es el objeto de un verbo. Significa a quien y es bastante
formal, no suele utilizarse en el lenguaje hablado. I met a woman whom 1 know.
DEFINING RELATIVE CLAUSES CON WHOSE, WHERE, WHEN, WHY/THAT .

Whose

Se usa whose para hablar de posesión, significa de quién o cuyo.

I've got a friend. His brother is an actor. I've got a friend whose brother is an actor.

Where, when y why/that

The factory where I work (para referimos a lugares) is going to close down.

Is there a time when we can meet? (para referirnos a tiempo)

Is there a reason Why/That you want to leave now?

Se pueden omitir when, why/that ya que funcionan como objeto dentro de la frase. También podemos
omitir where si usamos una preposición. The hotel we stayed at was very small.

Defining relative clauses con preposiciones

Se pueden usar preposiciones delante de which y whom.

That's the town in which he was born.

The people with whom I stayed were very kind.

Aunque en el lenguaje de cada día, es más normal poner la preposición al final de la frase.

NON-DEFINING RELATIVE CLAUSES

Estudia esta frase:

Kens mother, who is 69, has just passed her driving test. ( who is 69 no nos dice que mujer, ya sabemos
que hablamos de la madre de ken)

Las non-defining relative clauses, añaden información sobre la persona o cosa ya identificada. Se
suelen utilizar en estilo formal, especialmente por escrito. Estas frases se ponen entre comas (,).

En las frases non-defining, usamos who para referimos a personas y which para referirnos a cosas. No
usamos that.en las non defining.

No pueden omitirse ni who, ni which.

; .. : My uncle, who Iives in Manchester, is coming to visit me next week. [no:

1

My uncle, lives in Manchester, is coming next week)

NON-DEFINING RELATIVE CLAUSES WITH WHOSE, WHERE, WHENy WHOM.

Tina Harris, whose brother is the actor Paul Harris, is a good friend of rrune.

We visited a town caIled Pontedeume, where we had lunch in an Italian restaurant.

We are going on holiday in September, when the weather isn´t so hot.

Sarah, Whom/who you met in Madrid last summer, will be at the party tonight.

NON-DEFINING RELATIVE CLAUSES WITH PREPOSITIONS +WHICH AND WHOM.

Lo mismo que con las defining, se utilizan en estilo formal, en el lenguaje habitual es más común poner
la preposición al final de la frase y usar who en lugar de whom.

She´s studying chemistry, about which I know very little.

Luisa and Mary, with whom we went 0n holiday, live in Bristol.

She is studying chemistry, which I know very little about.

Luisa and Mary, who we went on holiday with, live in Bristol