Dear
readers, in the previous post we discussed some of the common errors associated
with Tenses that English as non-native speakers encounter in their daily
conversation. This present post highlights the common errors that might occur
in terms of Relative Clauses.
In
this post let us look at some of the important Relative Clauses in English.
Relative Clause is a clause used with relative pronouns, namely, who, whom,
which, that, whose etc. Let us look at some of the serious and common
grammatical mistakes.
1.
I met my friend that studied with me
during school days. (Incorrect)
I met my friend who
studied with me during school days. (Correct)
It is a defining relative clause, so it takes relative
pronoun. Here the subject is a human being, so use ‘who’ instead of ‘that’
2.
We have the gift who my father gifted us
for New Year. (Incorrect)
We have the gift which/that my father gifted us
for New Year. (Correct)
Here the subject is an
inanimate object, so use ‘which’/ ‘that’ instead of ‘who’.
3.
He is the officer that the people are
waiting for. (Incorrect)
He is the officer whom
the people are waiting for. (Correct)
Use ‘that’ / ‘who’ / ‘whom’ when we deal with object position for human beings. For nonhuman beings use ‘that’/ ‘which’.
4.
The athlete, which won gold in the Asian
Games, is my relative. (Incorrect)
The athlete, who
won gold in the Asian Games, is my relative. (Correct)
This is a non-defining relative clause that takes
commas before and after it. If the subject in such a clause is human being use ‘who’
and if non-human being, use ‘which’.
5. The laptop
was wonderful that my father bought for me. (Incorrect)
The laptop that
my father bought for me was wonderful. (Correct)
Relative pronouns follow the
noun, so do not change their position, or else the sentence will not be clear.
Practising
all the above-mentioned statements in daily conversation will help us improve
our English. Let us discuss some other interesting topic in the next post.
Author:
Dr. K. Nandhakumar
Assistant Professor of English
Sri Ramakrishna Mission Vidyalaya College of Arts and Science
(Autonomous)
Coimbatore- 641 020
Reference:
Saumya Sharma. (2017).
Common Errors in Everyday English.
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