RELATIVE CLAUSES

TIME CLAUSES
CLAUSES OF PURPOSE
CLAUSES OF RESULT
CLAUSES OF CONCESSION
CLAUSES OF REASON

RELATIVE CLAUSES

For
For
For
For
For

people who / that / whom / whose

things / animals which / that / whose
time when
place where
reason why

That is NEVER used after commas (non-defining relatives) or

prepositions
Thats the man with whom I went to France.
Thats the man who / that I went to France with.
Thats the man I went to France with.
Thats
Thats
Thats
Thats

the
the
the
the

house
house
house
house

where we lived for ten years.

in which we lived for ten years.
which / that we lived in for ten years.
we lived in for ten years.

What stands for the thing(s) that and therefore as it carries its own noun
cannot follow a noun and always introduces a defining clause. This unlike
the other relative clauses may come at the beginning of a sentence.
What you say is quite true
People criticise him without knowing his views, which is foolish.

Relative clauses may refer back not to nouns or pronouns but to

statements. In this case they are always after a comma and introduced
by which.

The expression of quantity precedes the pronoun. Only whom, whose, and
which are used in this pattern. Commas are used
In my class there are 20 students. Most of them are from Asia.
In my class there are 20 students, most of whom are from Asia.

Expressions of quantity: some of, many of, most of, none of, two of,
half of, both of
PRACTICE

The city has sixteen schools. Two of them are junior colleges.

 I tried on six pairs of shoes. I liked none of them.

The village has around 200 people. The majority of them are farmers.
The company currently has five employees. All of them are computer
experts.
Sonya lost her job. That wasnt surprising.
She usually came to work late. That upset her boss.
So the boss fired her. That made her angry.
TIME CLAUSES

After, as, as soon as, by, the moment, the minute, before, by the
time, once, now that, till/until, on / upon, when, while etc

We NEVER use a future tense in a future time clause. Instead we use a

present simple or present perfect tense.
Ill do the washing up when / after they leave / have left.

When when is a question word + future

When will John get back from Austria?
CLAUSES OF PURPOSE

Full infinitive - in order to so as to (when the subject is the same)

He left early (in order / so as) to avoid the heavy traffic.

For negative purpose we use so as not to or in order not to NOT the

infinitive
We are staying in this weekend so as not to spend any money.

With a view to + V-ing (same subject)

With the aim of + V-ing (same subject)
The leaflet has been produced with the aim of increasing public
awareness of the disease.

So that (in order that) + will / can (seldom present simple) (for the
present)
So that (in order that) + would / could (for the past)
They can be used with same or different subjects.
Ill take my umbrella so that I wont get wet.
We bought more food so that we would have enough for the extra
guests.
In case + Present Simple / should (for the present / future)
In case + Past Simple / should (for the past)
They left early in case the traffic was / should be heavy.

 Never use in case with will / would / may / might

For fear (that) + might / should
For fear of sth / doing sth

They asked their neighbours to keep an eye on the house for fear
burglars might break in
She didnt make a noise for fear of waking her parents.

Lest + (might / should) + infinitive (or subjunctive)

She banned smoking lest the house should catch / catch fire.
Prevent + noun / pronoun + (from) + gerund
Avoid + gerund
Its impossible to prevent cats from scratching furniture.
You should avoid carrying heavy bags.
PRACTICE

He put on a mask. He didnt want his wife to recognise him.

I didnt go out. I didnt want to catch a cold.
We bought more food. We wanted to have enough for extra guests.
They have locked the front gate. They dont want us to get in.

CLAUSES OF RESULT

Such (a / an) + singular countable noun

Such + adjective + uncountable / plural noun
Such + a lot of + noun

It was such a thrilling novel that I couldnt put it down.

He played such moving music that many people in the audience felt
close to tears.
There was such a lot of noise that the children couldnt hear what the
teacher was saying.

So + adjective / adverb
So + much / many / little / few + noun
So + adjective + a / an + singular noun

We were so pleased with their present that we rang them immediately.

We had so little time that we didnt manage to visit all our friends.
She was so beautiful
sight.

a girl that the prince fell in love with her at first

Too + adjective (+ singular countable noun)

Too much of a + noun
Too + adjective or adverb
For emphasis either much or far can precede too

Sheilas too sensible a driver to take risks.

Helens too much of a spendthrift ever to save a penny.
The ice is too thin to skate.
Those logs are much too heavy for one man to lift.
Theres far too much violence in this film for my liking / my taste.

Adjective + enough + singular countable noun

Uncountable / plural nouns + adjective + enough
Enough + noun

Sheilas a sensible enough driver not to take risks.

Do you think Denis would be foolish enough to marry Helen?
Now theres enough ripe fruit for my mother to start her jam-making.

PRACTICE

The lecturer spoke so fast I couldnt take any notes.

Its a difficult subject, and we cant get into it now.
The swimming-pool was so shallow you couldnt dive into it.
She didnt have much sense and didnt even realise what his rights were.
She was honest and did not try to deny all responsibility for the accident.
I had no patience and wouldnt even consider staying at school for the
extra study.

CLAUSES OF CONCESSION

In spite of / despite + noun / gerund

+ the fact that + clause
Although / even though / though + clause
Though can also be placed at the end of clauses

In spite of / Despite her ill health, she still takes care of the house and
children.
In spite of / Despite being ill, she went to work.
Although / Even though / Though he studied he failed his tests.
She drives too fast. Shes never gotten a speeding ticket, though.

However, but, yet, nevertheless cannot introduce a contrasting

clause.
She swam fast, yet she finished third.
Maria was ill. However, she went to school. (Maria went to school. She
was ill, however)

while / whereas with different subjects

Reds and yellows are warm colours, whereas blues and greens are cool.
While / Whilst only 84 people died on the railways last year, more than
5,000 died on the roads.

 No matter how / However + adjective / adverb + clause (in some

cases with may)
However hard I try / I may try, I can never solve crosswords.
No matter what / Whatever + clause
No matter what the time is, ring me when you arrive at the station.
Adjective / adverb + though / as + subject + (may) + verb
Rich though he is / may be, he is not happy.
Fast as he ran, he didnt catch the bus.
Try as you may / might, you wont solve the puzzle.

Much as can be used only with verbs expressing ones inclinations such
as like, dislike, admire, approve, enjoy, sympathise.
Much as we would like to see an end to the strike, we do not think the
Government should give way to the strikers.
PRACTICE

REPHRASE
I admire him very much, but Id never want to be his age.

Much as you may dislike the idea of growing old, the chances are that you
will find yourself old one day.
CLAUSES OF REASON

Because of
Owing to
Due to
On account of

What with

+ noun

Due to the rain, the match was cancelled.