🎓 Welcome to the Advanced Level
Right, you've mastered the basics, now it's time for the proper advanced stuff. This is where relative clauses get interesting - and where most people cock it up spectacularly. But not you, because you're about to learn the sophisticated techniques that'll make you sound like a bloody grammar genius!
Relative Clauses with Prepositions
When the relative pronoun is the object of a preposition, you have two choices:
- Formal: The person to whom I spoke was helpful
- Informal: The person who I spoke to was helpful
- Very informal: The person I spoke to was helpful
Quantifying Relative Clauses
Using expressions like "some of which," "many of whom," "all of which":
- I have 20 students, most of whom are very motivated
- She wrote 5 books, all of which became bestsellers
- There were 100 applicants, few of whom were qualified
Relative Clauses with "What"
"What" means "the thing that" - it's a relative pronoun and antecedent combined:
- What you said was brilliant (= The thing that you said)
- I don't understand what he means
- What happened next was unexpected
Reduced Relative Clauses
Sometimes you can drop the relative pronoun and "be" verb:
- The man (who is) sitting there is my boss
- The book (which was) written in 1960 is famous
- Anyone (who is) interested should apply
🎯 Prepositions in Relative Clauses
This is where it gets properly tricky. The preposition can go at the beginning (formal) or at the end (informal):
With "Whom" (People)
Formal: The colleague with whom I work is brilliant.
Informal: The colleague who I work with is brilliant.
Use "whom" after prepositions in formal writing.
With "Which" (Things)
Formal: The project on which I'm working is complex.
Informal: The project which I'm working on is complex.
The preposition can move to the end in informal speech.
With "Where" (Places)
The city where I live is expensive.
= The city in which I live is expensive.
"Where" replaces "in/at/on which" for places.
With "When" (Time)
The day when we met was special.
= The day on which we met was special.
"When" replaces "on/in/at which" for time.
✂️ When You Can (and Can't) Omit the Relative Pronoun
✅ CAN Omit (Object of Verb)
- The book (that) I read was great
- The person (who) you met is my sister
- The car (which) he bought is expensive
- The movie (that) we watched was boring
The relative pronoun is the object of the verb in the relative clause.
❌ CANNOT Omit (Subject of Verb)
- The book that is on the table is mine
- The person who called you is here
- The car which broke down is old
- The movie that won the award is brilliant
The relative pronoun is the subject of the verb in the relative clause.
🧠 Complex Sentence Analysis
Let's break down some properly complex sentences:
The company for which I work, which was founded in 1995, has offices in 20 countries.
Breakdown:
- Main clause: "The company... has offices in 20 countries"
- Defining clause: "for which I work" (identifies which company)
- Non-defining clause: "which was founded in 1995" (extra info)
What surprised me most was the fact that nobody, not even those who knew him well, had predicted his success.
Breakdown:
- "What surprised me most" = subject (relative clause with "what")
- "was the fact that nobody... had predicted his success" = main clause
- "who knew him well" = defining relative clause (identifies which people)
The students, many of whom had never studied abroad before, adapted quickly to life in London.
Breakdown:
- Main clause: "The students... adapted quickly to life in London"
- Non-defining clause: "many of whom had never studied abroad before"
- Quantifying expression: "many of whom" (some of the students)
🧠 Advanced Relative Clause Challenge!
1. The person _____ I was speaking is my manager.
2. I have 50 books, _____ are about grammar.
most of them
most of which
most of who
3. _____ you told me yesterday was very interesting.
4. The book _____ on the table is mine. (Can you omit the relative pronoun?)
Yes, you can omit it
No, you cannot omit it
5. The movie _____ we watched last night was excellent. (Can you omit the relative pronoun?)
Yes, you can omit it
No, you cannot omit it
6. My colleagues, _____ are very experienced, helped me a lot.
some of them
some of whom
some of which
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