Identifying and Non-Identifying Relative Clauses

Identifying Relative Clause: da información extra para el significado de la oración principal. No va entre comas y es introducido por who, which, that,  whose, where, when o the reason (why).

     The man who sold me the car said it had never broken down.

Non-Identifying Relative Clauses: da información extra y no es esencial para el significado de la oración principal. Va entre comas y es introducido por who,  whom, which, where, whose o when.

     The man, who was very persuasive, sold me the car for 1000€.

Relative Clauses

     Relative clauses son introducidos por un pronombre relativo o adverbio relativo.

Pronombres relativos (relative pronouns)

Usamos:

• Who(m)/that para referirnos a gente
• Which/that para referirnos a cosas
• Whose con gente, animales y objetos para mostrar posesión (en lugar de un adjetivo posesivo)

Hay que tener en cuenta que:

• Who, which y that pueden ser omitidos cuando son el objeto de la relative clause --->  He's the person (who) I am going to be workink for.
• Whom puede ser usado en lugar de who cuando es el objeto de la relative clause. Whom es siempre usado en lugar de who/that después de una preposición --->  That's the girl to whom Rob was speaking at the party last night.
• Who, which o that no se omite cuando es el sujeto de la relative clause --->  The woman who owns that restaurant is French.
• Whose nunca se omite --->  That's the man whose son had the accident.

Adverbios relativos (relative adverbs)

Usamos:

• When/that para referirnos al tiempo (se puede omitir):

               That was the year (when/that) we finished school.

• Where para referirnos a un lugar

               The hospital where I was born is closing down.

• Why para dar un motivo, normalmente después de la palabra reason (why se puede omitir):

               The reason (why) he did this is still not clear.

Clauses of purpose

     Clauses of purpose son usados para explicar por qué alguien hace algo. Son introducidos por:

• to-infinitive -> Collin went to the library to borrow a book.
• in order to/so as to + infinitive (Formal) -> The boss requested that everyone work overtime in order to finish the project on time.
• so that + can/will (present/future reference) -> I will give you my number so that you can call me if there are any problems.
• so that + could/would (past reference) -> He left at 5 o'clock, so that he would be at the airport in plenty of time.
• in case + present tense (present or future reference) -> Leave the answer machine on in case anyone calls when we are out.
• in case + past tense (past reference) -> She had made some sandwiches in case we got hungry.
• for + noun (expresa el propósito de la acción) -> We went to Marco's for a pizza.
• for + ing form (expresa el propósito de algo o su función) -> Microwaves are used for heating up food.
• with a view to + ing form -> The Wilson's bought the old farmhouse with a view to renovatong it.

Nota: in case nunca es usado con will o could.

Podemos expresar negative purpose con:

• in order not to/so as not to + infinitive -> I wrote a list of the things I had to do so as not to forget anything.
• prevent + noun/pronoun + (from) + ing form -> The teacher covered up what was written on the board to prevent the students from reading it.