Topic 20

Topic 20                       Relative Pronouns

                Nominative Case                          Possessive Case        

                       P1                                              P2

  Person          who                                           whose                              

  animal

  thing            which                                     the noun of which                     

 

‘Who / Which’ in the Nominative Case ( Subjective Case) is used to replace P1 in the Personal Pronouns or the related Noun. 

In the Possessive Case, we use ‘whose / the noun of which’ to replace P2 or the related noun showing possession.

A)              { who  V----------------------------------------------}

      Person { [whose noun] V ------------------------------------}  V

               

1.  That is /Aminah’s uncle/^.   [He] lives in a mansion.

     That is Aminah’s uncle{ [who] lives in a mansion}.

To combine the sentence using a Relative Pronoun, first we have to identity the Subject , then we decide which sentence should be put in another sentence. 

It always put right behind the Noun(person, animal / thing) it modifies.

In the above case.  ‘Aminah’s uncle’ is the Subject matter. ‘He’ is in the

Nominative Case and so ‘who’ is used to replace ‘He’. 

The clause [who lives in a mansion] is placed right after ‘Aminah’s uncle.’) 

                                                P2

2.  [That lady]^ is my teacher.  [Her car] is blue in colour. 

     [That lady]{ [whose car] is blue in colour} is my teacher.

       

Her car (the lady’s car) = whose car; ‘Her’ is the Possessive Case and so ‘whose’ is used to replace. 

It is always the Subordinate clause led by ‘whose ’ to be put into the main sentence.  It has to put right behind the Noun it modifies.)

‘Whose’ is used to replace P2 or the related noun showing possession.

A clause is not an independent sentence because it can’t stand alone.  A clause is a structure with a subject and a verb but is not complete in meaning.

                                                                                                  (70)

B.      Animal    {  [which] V---------------------------}

         Thing     {  [the noun of which] V -----------} V

For Animal or Thing, we use [which] for the Nominative Case (Subjective Case) and [the noun of which] for Possessive Case.

1.  [The rabbit] ^is very lovely.   

     [It] has a pair of long ears.

     [The rabbit]{[which] has a pair of long ears} is very lovely.

The Subject  is ‘The rabbit’ and ‘it’ is in the Nominative Case and so is replaced by ‘which’.  The clause ‘which has a pair of long ears’ is placed right after ‘The rabbit’ to modify it.

2.   I have (a pet cat)^.

      [The legs of the cat] are very short.

      I have (a pet cat){ [the legs of which] are very short}.

The Subject  is ‘a pet cat’ and ‘the legs of the cat’ show possession.  We can use ‘which’ to replace ‘the cat’ and place the clause right behind ‘a pet cat’ to modify it.  The clause [the leg of which are very short] is a subordinate clause and so it has to be put in the main clause.

Try and See

Fill in the blanks with ‘who / whose / which / the noun of which ’.

1.  That is the bag the strap ___________ is very lovely.

2.  The man __________ wife is a teacher is a Japanese.

3.  The girl __________ can run really fast is my cousin.

4.  I like the dress __________ is blue in colour.

5.  Leena ___________ father is a fireman is an excellent student.

Join the following pair of sentences using the Relative Pronouns ‘who / whose / which / the noun of which’.

1.  The boy is very tall.  His sister is a nurse.

     __________________________________________________________

2.  I just bought a rice cooker.  The colour of the rice cooker is light green.

     __________________________________________________________

3.  That is the umbrella.  It is very colourful.

     __________________________________________________________

4.  My uncle is very busy every day.  He works hard and reads a lot.

     __________________________________________________________

5.  The goose can’t walk well.  The legs of the goose are injured.

     ______________________________________________________(71)

Topic 20              Relative Pronouns                                             

Exercise 115

Fill in the blanks with ‘who / whose’.

1.  The little girl _________ has long plaited hair is my cousin.

2.  The lady _________ son is a mechanical engineer is a writer.

3.  Maria _________ sister is a nurse is the top student in my class.

4.  The man _________ drives a Proton Wira is my History teacher.

5.  The stallholder ________ wife is a teacher cooks very well.

6.  My uncle _________ lives in Australia is an engineer.

7.  Jee Hua _________ father is a manager is good at sports.

8.  Miss Ting ________ works as a nutritionist is very health-conscious.  

Exercise 116

Fill in the blanks with ‘which / of which’.

1.  The car the wheel __________ punctured belongs to my aunt, Sarah.

2.  The squirrel __________ eats a lot is called ‘Glutton’.

3.  The hammer ___________ is already very old is still very useful.

4.  The hamster one of the legs ____________ is injured is Alice’s pet.

5.  The rubbish tin the lid ____________ has dropped has stinking smell.

6.   The refrigerator __________ is frost-free has three compartments.

7.  The clock the shape _____________ is triangular is ten minutes slower.

8.  The microwave __________ is convenient to warm up food may not be

     good and body-friendly.

Exercise 117

Join the following pairs of sentences with ‘who / whose / which ’.

1.  Mrs Huang has a good income.  Her workmanship in sewing is

     excellent.

     __________________________________________________________

     __________________________________________________________

2.  The fan is good and convenient.  It has a timer to set the time.

     __________________________________________________________

3.  Mr Chan exercises every day.  He is very health-conscious.

     __________________________________________________________

4.  Nora speaks several languages very well.  Her sister is a music genius.

     __________________________________________________________

5.  Cecilia could not sleep well last night.  Her little brother cried a lot.

     __________________________________________________________

6.  The washing machine is automatic.  It is so easy to operate.

     __________________________________________________________

7.  Norlinda is allergy to seafood.  She avoids eating prawns and crabs.

     __________________________________________________________

                                                                                                (72)

Exercise 118                                                                                

Fill in the blanks with ‘who / whose / which / of which’.

1.  James ____________ aunt is an actress enjoys singing very much too.

2.  The dog the fur _____________ is soft and fluffy is a Pekinese.

3.  Tien Tien ________ ate a lot of sweets had a bad toothache yesterday.

4.  The hippopotamus __________ always feels hot has no sweat pores.

5.  Gui Eng ______________ suffers from asthma is absent today.

6.  The cock the cock-comb ______________ is red and big crows loudly

     every day.

7.  Mr Yii _________ mansion is eye-catching is a successful businessman.

8.  The tree _________ is dying is a green-skinned orange tree .

9.  The peacock the legs ______________ are ugly has colourful feathers.

10.  Leena _____________ school bag was torn had a quarrel with Meena.

Exercise 119                                                                                 

Fill in the blanks with ‘who / whose / which / of which’.

1.  Siew Sieng _________ legs are long and strong is a good athlete.

2.  The goat  _________ is brown and white in colour is very active.

3.  The duckling the right leg __________ is crippled moves about slowly.

4.  The teacher _________ teaches us Mathematics is good and dedicated.

5.  The man __________ nose is sharp and big is my principal.

6.  The zebra ________jumps and runs a lot is very interesting to watch.

7.  The piglet the tail __________ is twisted in spiral is so cute and lovely.

8.  Mork _________ blows his nose all the time often catches a cold.

Exercise 120

Join the following pair of sentences with ‘who / whose / which / of which’.

1.  The goose is dying.  The left wing of the goose is broken.

     __________________________________________________________

2.  The turkey is five years old now.  It is my grandparents’ pet.

     __________________________________________________________

3.  The man groaned in pain.  His left leg was injured in a car accident.

     __________________________________________________________

4.  The lawn mower can’t cut well.  The blade of it is blunt.

     __________________________________________________________

5.  Zaki studies hotel management.  He is also an excellent cook.    

     __________________________________________________________

6.  The frog is a good indicator of the environmental conditions.  It is so

     delicate.

     __________________________________________________________

     __________________________________________________________

7.  The girl needs to apply some lotion.  Her skin is too delicate to sunlight.

     ______________________________________________________(73)