2017-11-20 Grammar: relative clauses

Greg Malivuk
[email protected]
http://www.pastebin.com/u/gmalivuk - notes from all classes
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Homework: read p. 196 and do p. 197 exercise 9
Do this now with your partner.
1 Although I have lived in the United States for almost one year, I often feel homesick and miss my family.
2 Even though I was used to them, I still wasn’t comfortable.
3 However, I began to miss things in Indonesia, such as food, my friends, and the warm weather.
4 My advisor told me about culture shock. In addition, he suggested that I should be patient.
  In addition to telling me about culture shock, my advisor suggested that I should be patient.
5 Besides being homesick, I was also having trouble getting used to the way classes are taught in the United States.
6 In spite of the fact that I was homesick, I didn’t want to go home without completing…
  In spite of being homesick, I didn’t want to go home without completing my education.
7 As a result of my conversation with my advisor, my culture shock got a little better.
8 Despite my problems, I didn’t stop doing my best.
  Despite having problems, I didn’t stop doing my best.
  Despite the fact that I was having problems, I didn’t stop doing my best.
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despite + noun, sentence
despite + gerund phrase, sentence
despite the fact that + sentence, sentence
(“in spite of”, “in addition to”, “due to” - all work the same way)
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When a subordinate clause or phrase has a gerund, we understand the subject of the gerund is the same as the subject of the main clause.
“Despite having problems, I didn’t stop doing my best.” - we understand that I was having problems
WRONG: While eating dinner, the phone rang. - We understand this as “While the phone was eating dinner”.
If we need to have a different subject, say the whole sentence:
“While I was eating dinner, the phone rang.”
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What areas of grammar do you have problems with that you want to work on today and tomorrow?
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Relative Clauses (also sometimes called Adjective Clauses)
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clause = a group of words including a subject and a verb
adjective = a word that gives more information about a noun
adjective clause = a clause that gives more information about a noun
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“that gives more information about a noun” is a clause (subj: that, verb: gives) that gives more information about “a clause”
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These are sometimes called relative clauses, because “that” is a relative pronoun whose meaning depends on another word in the sentence.
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who = a person or people:
John is the author. He wrote my favorite book.
John is the author who wrote my favorite book.
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whom = person/people as an object:
John is the author. I was telling you about him.
John is the author whom I was telling you about.
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whose = possessive (It can also be the possessive of a thing, not only a person.)
John is the author. I just finished his book.
John is the author whose book I just finished.
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which = a thing or things
John wrote the book. I lent it to you last week.
John wrote the book which I lent to you last week.
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that = “who”, “whom”, or “which”, but NOT after a comma or a preposition:
John is the author that wrote my favorite book.
John is the author that I was telling you about. (It’s a little informal to use “that” instead of “who”.)
John wrote the book that I lent to you last week. (It’s very common to use “that” instead of “which”.)
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where = a place
This is the restaurant. I ate here last night.
This is the restaurant where I ate last night.
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when = a time
2005 was the year. I graduated from college then.
2005 was the year when I graduated from college.
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Tomorrow: defining and non-defining clauses