Relative clauses

Non-defining relative clauses with who, which or whose

7. Xem xét những câu sau:

Melanie works in the hairdresser’s.

Melanie, who lives next door to me, works in the hairdresser’s.

Ở đây, mệnh đề quan hệ (who lives next door to me) bổ sung thêm thông tin, nhưng không cần thiết cho ta nhận dạng Melanie. Ta có thể hiểu câu trên mà không cần đến thông tin thêm. Who lives next door to me là mệnh đề quan hệ không xác định (non-defining relative clause) và ta sử dụng dấu phảy (,) để tách mệnh đề này khỏi phần còn lại của câu.

8. Who và which có thể làm chủ từ trong mệnh đề quan hệ:

Tony Blair, who was Prime Minister for 10 years, studied law at Oxford University.

The Prime Minister lives at 10 Downing Street, which is in London.

9. Whom và which được dùng làm túc từ trong mệnh đề quan hệ.

There were many stories about Jack Jones, whom many people suspected of the crime.

The severe thunderstorms, which nobody had forecast, caused floods in several places.

10. Ta sử dụng whose thay cho tính từ sở hữu his, her, their v.v.:

Van Gogh, whose paintings now sell for millions, hardly managed to sell any during his lifetime.

11. Ta so sánh hai câu sau:

Sara lent Jim her camera, which was practically new. (which = her camera)

Sara lent Jim her camera, which was very kind. (which = the fact that Sara lent Jim her camera)

Ta gọi loại thứ hai là ‘mệnh đề quan hệ câu’ (sentence relative clause) vì which ám chỉ đến toàn bộ phần một của câu.

Thực hành văn phạm Mệnh đề quan hệ - Relative Clause

1. Ta thường sử dụng non-defining relative clause trong văn viết trang trọng. Chúng thông dụng trong báo chí, và hồi ký, v.v. . .

Tony Blair, whose full name is Anthony Charles Lynton Blair, was born in 1953. in 1980 he married Cherie Booth, whom he had met in 1976. From 1994 he was the leader of the Labour Party, which won three consecutive elections.

4. Ta cũng có thể sử dụng non-defining relative clauses để mô tả nơi chốn, như trong các sách hướng dẫn du lịch và bài viết về du lịch:

Venice, which is very popular with tourists, lies on the Adriatic Sea. The town is crossed by many canals, which are used for the transport of both people and goods. The main canal is the Grand Canal, which is lined with dozens of fine buildings.

5. Ta có thể sử dụng sentence relative clauses để phản ứng, phê phán:

My grandmother walks everywhere, which is very good for her health.

Simon and Sandra never want to have children, which surprised some of their friends.

Bài tập Mệnh đề quan hệ - Relative Clause

C. Giving information about well-known people

Here is some information from a website about well-known people. Make one sentence from the notes given, making the underlined parts into relative clauses.

0. Bill Cinton was US President from 1993 to 2001. He was born in Hope. It is a small town in Arkansas.

Bill Clinton, who was US President from 1993 to 2001, was born in hope, which is a small town in Arkansas.

1. Virginia Woolf. Her sister was a painter. She wrote A Room of One’s Own. The book deals with the difficulties for women in a man’s world.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

2. In 1958 Rosalind Franklin died of cancer. She helped to discover the structure of DNA. In those days cancer was incurable.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

3. Grantham lies in Lincolnshire. It is famous as the birthplace of Margaret Thatcher. She was British Prime Minister for 11 years.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

4. ‘Imagine’ is still a very popular song. It was written by John lennon. He died in 1980.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

D. Comments on facts or things?

Underline the words that which refers to.

0. They spent whole afternoons in the garden, which lay behind the house.

0 Brian was in the army for 9 years, which explains his respect for discipline.

1. Sara read War and Peace in just two weeks, which is probably a record.

2. Denis let me borrow his car, which is very good for hiking.

3. We often visit the Lake District, which is very good for hiking.

4. The manager accused Bill of stealing, which almost led to a strike.

E. Frida Kahlo

Complete the text by writing in relative pronouns and including a comma if one is necessary.

The artist Frida Kahlo, (0) who died in 1954, is becoming more and more popular. As a child she suffered from polio (1) . . . . . . . left her right leg thinner than her left. She disguised this by wearing skirts (2) . . . . . . . reached to her ankles. She had several sisters but was closest to her father (3) . . . . . . . encouraged her to study medicine. One day when she was 18, a bus (4) . . . . . . . she was travelling in was hit by a car. In the accident she broke several bones, including some in her back. These injuries (5) . . . . . . . resulted in many operations, affected her for the rest of her life. She left her medical studies to paint, and sought advice from Diego Garcia (6) . . . . . . . paintings she very much admired.

Garcia encouraged her, and later they got married (7) . . . . . . . didn’t please Frida’s family. Her paintings (8) . . . . . . . were often self-portraits, were painted in a style (9) . . . . . . . was influenced by popular Mexican art. During her lifetime she was considered less important than her husband but today she receives the recognition (10) . . . . . . . she deserves.

Đáp án:

1. Virginia Woofl, whose sister was a painter, wrote A Room of One’s Own, which deals with the difficulties for women in a man’s world.

2. In 1958 Rosalind Franklin, who helped to discover the strcture of DNA, died of cancer, which in those days was incurable.

3. Grantham, which lies in Lincolnshire, is famous as the birthplace of Margaret Thatcher, who was British Prime Minister for 11 years.

4. ‘Imagine’, which is still a very popular song, was written by John Lennon, who died in 1980.

1. Sara read War and Peace in just two weeks

2. his car

3. the Lake District

4. The manager accused Bill of stealing

1. , which 5 , which / that 9. which / that

2. which / that 6. , whose 10. which / that/ –

3. , who 7. , which