ENGLISH DEPARTMENT / IES FRANCISCO DE QUEVEDO

RELATIVE CLAUSES
Las Oraciones de Relativo
RELATIVE CLAUSES
RULE

EXAMPLE

who / that refer to people

They caught the man who / that spied for China.

which / that refer to objects

I lost the map which / that she gave me.

whose refers to possession

She complained to the man whose dog bit her.

when refers to a moment in time

Christmas Day is a day when people are happy.

where refers to a particular place

We visited the house where our father was born.

In non-defining sentences, the word

that cannot replace who or which.

Mata Hari, who was a famous female spy, was born in Holland.
Buckingham Palace, which is in London, is a favourite tourist site.

Las oraciones de relativo van introducidas por un pronombre o un adverbio relativo:

who, which, that, whose, when, where.

oracin principal

oracin subordinada de relativo

They caught the man

who / that spied for China.

I lost the map

which / that she gave me.

She complained to the man

whose dog bit her.

Hay dos tipos de oraciones de relativo:

Defining Relative Clauses y Non-defining Relative Clauses

ENGLISH DEPARTMENT / IES FRANCISCO DE QUEVEDO

DEFINING RELATIVE CLAUSES

Las oraciones de relativo especificativas se llaman as porque aportan informacin esencial sobre
su antecedente, de tal manera que sin ellas el sentido de la frase quedara incompleto. Los
pronombres relativos son:
THAT (que) se usa cuando el antecedente es tanto una persona como una cosa.
WHO (que, quien, quienes) se refiere slo a personas.
WHICH (que) se refiere excusivamente a cosas.
Ejemplos:

They caught the

man

who / that spied for China.

antecedente persona

I lost the

map

which / that she gave me.

antecedente cosa

Tanto that como who y which se pueden omitir si van seguidos de un nombre o pronombre, es
decir, si no son el sujeto de la oracin de relativo.
Ejemplos:
These are all the clues (that) they left behind.
John is the man (who) we saw yesterday at the restaurant.
Ive bought the CD (which) Laura recommended to me.

WHOSE indica posesin y significa cuyo/a/os/as. Nunca acta como sujeto y no se puede omitir.
She complained to the man whose dog bit her.

WHEN (cuando, en que) hace referencia a un tiempo. Se puede utilizar that en su lugar u
omitirse.
Do you remember the day (when / that) we met?

WHERE (donde, en el que) indica lugar.

We visited the house where our father was born.

ENGLISH DEPARTMENT / IES FRANCISCO DE QUEVEDO

RELATIVE + PREPOSITION
Cuando el relativo lleva preposicin, which se sigue usando si el antecedente es una cosa; pero si
es una persona, en lugar de who se emplea whom, sobre todo en la lengua escrita. Lo ms comn
en todos los casos es poner la preposicin al final de la oracin de relativo y omitir el pronombre.
The film in which he appears was a great success > The film he appears in was a great success
The person to whom I had to talk wasnt there > The person I had to talk to wasnt there.

NON-DEFINING RELATIVE CLAUSES

Estas son oraciones explicativas porque aaden informacin adicional sobre el antecedente. Sin
ellas el sentido de la frase se mantiene igual, por lo que no son indispensables. Por eso siempre
van entre comas.
James Bond , who is a famous spy , was created by the writer Ian Fleming.

Con las Oraciones de Relativo Non-defining no se puede utilizar that, sino who y which para
personas y cosas respectivamente. Adems nunca se puede omitir el pronombre o adverbio
relativo.
That document , which was found in his car , didnt prove his identity.
The detective , who you met yesterday , is following the suspects trail.
Este tipo de oraciones no es muy frecuente en el ingls hablado, donde se usan mucho ms las
oraciones de relativo especificativas.