CHAPTER 17
“Te Relatve Pronoun”
As has been te case in te last several chaptrs, tis chaptr realy doesn’t confont te neophyt wit a lot of new grammatcal concepts; it builds on knowledge already mastred. Stl it’s going t take a litle patence, but we’l go slowly. Before we get t te relatve pronoun per se, we’re going t clean up a syntactcal point you’ve already been working wit, but may not have yet a firm conceptual understanding of. Let’s look at what we mean by a “clause”.
THE CLAUSE
You al remember te junior high school definiton of a sentnce: it’s a complet tought. And by tat we mean a tought which includes a noun, eiter expressed or implied, and a verb, eiter expressed or implied. Tat is, a complet tought must involve someting which is doing someting or which is being held up for descripton: “Te road is blocked”; “Te tee fel down”; and so on.
Now, te human mind is a wonderfl ting. It reasons and perceives dozens of different kinds relatonships between events, tings, and ideas. It arranges events and facts logicaly and tmporaly, and in levels of priorit. Tat is t say, it takes two or more tings, tings which are separat ideas, separat visions, and weaves tem tgeter conceptualy and linguistcaly int what we “reasoning”. Te way tis reasoning is expressed in language is caled “syntax”, which litraly means “arranging tgeter”; puting tgeter events and tings and facts. For example, te two separat ideas or visions -- “te road is blocked” and “te tee fel down” -- might have a causal relatonship, which te mind instantly recognizes and expresses linguistcaly wit an appropriat conjuncton: “Te road is blocked because te tee fel down”. Te conjuncton “because” in tis example is speling out te relatonship te speaker perceives between te two ideas. It’s arranging tem int a cause and effect relatonship: tat te tee fel down is a fact, and because of tat fact, te road is now blocked.
Each tought, idea, or event, when it is expressed in language, is a caled a clause. Hence te sentnce “te road is blocked because te tee fel” contains two “clauses”: te fact tat te tee fel is expressed in one clause, and te fact tat te road is blocked forms anoter “clause”. It’s possible for a sentnce t contain only one clause, as in “Roses are red”. It’s also possible for a sentnce t contain an ungodly number of clauses. See wheter you can spot al te clauses -- tat is separat toughts -- in tis sentnce:
“Since we are looking for te ideal oratr, we must use our powers of oratry t portay a speaker fee fom al possible faults and endowed wit every possible merit; for tough it is undeniable tat te large number of lawsuits, te great variet or public questons, te ilitrat masses who make te audience of our public speakers, offer a field t ever te most defectve oratrs, we wil not for tat reason despair of finding what we want” (Cicero, On te Oratr, 26). Let’s back up and take a look at a sting of unsubordinatd clauses. (Te speaker’s name is George.)
“Te dog is mean. Te dog lives next door. One day te dog bit George. George kicked te dog. George’s neighbor came out of te house. George’s neighbor owns te dog. George’s neighbor screamed at George. George’s neighbor caled te police. Te police came. Te dog bit te police. Te police shot te dog. George is happy. Te dog is dead”.
We don’t talk like tis because our language has developed a whole systm of conjunctons and pronouns which alows us (1) t avoid al te unneeded repetton of nouns and (2) t make te logical and tmporal relatonships between toughts explicit. Tere are a hundred ways t cast tis sting of events and facts which make fl use of range of linguistc apparatus English makes available t us. Here’s only one:
“Te dog tat lives next door is mean, and one day he bit me. So I kicked him. My neighbor, who owns te dog, came out of te house and screamed at me. Ten he caled te police. When tey came, te dog bit tem to, so tey shot it. I am happy te dog is dead”.
You can see here al kinds of linkage between tese toughts, and al kinds of different linguistc apparatus tat makes it possible. Te kind of linkage we’re intrestd in now is te “relatve clause”. Let’s look at how it’s done.
ENGLISH RELATIVE CLAUSES Here’s a bare bones definiton of a relatve clause: “A relatve clause is a subordinat clause which acts like an adjectve by providing additonal informaton about a noun in anoter clause”. Now here’s an example showing te evoluton of te relatve clause.
CLAUSE 1: “Te five o’clock tain is never on tme”. CLAUSE 2: “Hundreds of people take te five o’clock tain”.
Te two clauses have someting in common: te five o’clock tain. Two separat facts have been identfied about tis tain: it’s never on tme and hundreds of people take it. A speaker may arrange tese two clauses however he wishes, subject only t te idea he wished t convey t his listner. If, for example, te most important ting he wants his listner t know about te tain is tat it is lat al te tme, clause 1 wil have t be logicaly and syntactcaly “superior” t te fact contained in clause 2. Tat is t say, te fact in clause 2 -- tat hundreds of people take te five o’clock tain -- wil be added simply as additonal informaton about te tain. In grammatcal circles we cal te most important element in te sentnce te “main” or “ordinat” or “independent clause”; we cal any oter clause a “subordinat” or “dependent clause”, because it is, in a real sense, a subordinat, a worker in te employment of te main clause.
So let’s assume tat te most important fact te speaker wants t get across is contained in clause 1, and tat clause 2 is going t be worked in only as subordinat matrial. How is tis going t happen. STEP 1: Substtut “te five o’clock tain” in clause 2 wit te appropriat pronoun. Te pronoun wil refer te listner t te noun statd in clause 1.
CLAUSE 1: “Te five o’clock tain is never on tme”. CLAUSE 2: “Hundreds of people take it”.
Now hold on. Why did we chose “it” as te appropriat pronoun t reproduce “te five o’clock tain” in clause 2? Wel, te noun which te pronoun has t reproduce is singular in number and inanimat, so “it” is te correct choice. Next, what case is “it” in? Look, it’s actng as te object of te verb “take” in its clause, so “it” is in te objectve (or accusatve) case. (Tis was just a review. You already know tat pronouns get teir number and gender fom teir antcedents, but get teir case fom te way tey’re being used in teir own clause.)
STEP 2: Embed te subordinat clause int main clause.
SENTENCE: “Te five o’clock tain -- hundreds of people take it -- is never on tme”.
We could almost stp here. Te two sentnces have been merged int one, and clause 2 has been subordinatd t te idea in clause 1. Tat is t say, te stucture of clause 1 forms te main architcture of te new sentnce. But English developed a frter modificaton t work tese two clauses int one sentnce. It replaces te pronoun of te subordinat clause wit a pronoun which indicats witout a doubt tat te clause coming up is dependent, or subordinat t, te clause which has just been intrruptd. We replace te pronoun wit te relatve pronoun “who, which” in te proper case and move it t te beginning of te clause. Now te two clauses have been completly welded int one sentnce.
STEP 3: Substtut and move te pronoun.
SENTENCE: “Te five o’clock tain, which hundreds of people take, is never on tme”.
And tere you have it. Clause 2 has been fly incorporatd int te message of te first clause. As soon as you read te relatve pronoun “which” in tis sentnce, your mind autmatcaly understands two tings:
(1) te clause coming up is not as important as te clause you’ve just left and (2) te clause coming up is going t give you more informaton about some ting in te main clause.
So tis sentnce is saying someting like tis: “te five o’clock tain -- which, by te by, hundreds of people take -- is never on tme”. And one last pesky queston: what case is “which” in? It’s in te objectve (or accusatve) case because it is stl te object of te verb in te relatve clause: “take”. Remember, number and gender fom te antcedent, but case fom its clause.
Now let’s go back t te two clauses when tey were independent toughts.
CLAUSE 1: “Te five o’clock tain is never on tme”. CLAUSE 2: “Hundreds of people take te five o’clock tain”. It’s also possible tat main idea te speaker wishes t get across is te fact contained in clause 2 and wil have t subordinat clause 1 int clause 2, in which case clause 2 wil provide te basic architcture for te new sentnce. Like tis: “Hundreds of people take te five o’clock tain, which is never on tme”. Now what case is “which” in? Look at te relatve clause. If tat doesn’t help, look at te sentnce fom which te relatve clause evolved. It came fom clause 1, where “te five o’clock tain” was nominatve. Te “which” is simply standing in for it, so “which” must nominatve. And it is.
THE ENGLISH RELATIVE PRONOUN: CASE SYSTEM
We’re going t look at several more examples of tis in a second, but for now I have a few more tings t add about te English relatve pronoun. Like te oter pronouns in English, te relatve pronoun preserves tree distnct case forms and even distnguishes between animat and inanimat. Tere is no distncton between te numbers.
ANIMATE INANIMATE
Nom. who which Gen. whose whose Acc. whom which
Nots:
(1) Obviously, since English has lost its grammatcal gender, te relatve pronoun “who, whose, and whom” are only going t be used for living beings, usualy only human beings, tough sometmes for animals. (2) A lot of people sniff at “whom” as archaic and elitst. Tat’s possible, but I look at it tis way: you should know how and when t use “whom” properly. If you’re in a situaton where your audience wil denounce your pretnsions t aristcracy if you use “whom”, ten don’t use it. Don’t go int a bar and say “Is tis te same tam whom te Packers beat last week?” On te oter hand, if your listner wil dismiss you as a bumpkin and ignoramus if you say “Tese are te actrs who I’d admire”, ten use “whom”. Knowing when t use “whom” correctly is like knowing te difference between a salad and oystr fork. It’s not knowledge tat’s usefl every day of your life, but when you need it it’s nice t have. In any case, never use “whom” when you should use “who”. You’l outage everyone. If you’re in doubt as t which t use, use “who”. (3) Te nominatve and accusatve case of te relatve pronoun “who, which” has been almost entrely replaced in coloquial English by “tat”: “Te boy tat I saw..”., “Te girl tat plays basketbal..”., Te car tat is in te garage..”. (4) English also has te opton of omiting te relatve pronoun altgeter, and oftn it does: “Te boy whom I saw is six feet tal” becomes “Te boy I saw is six feet tal”. Latn doesn’t have tis opton. It must always use te relatve pronoun.
DRILL
Combine tese two English sentnces int one. Use te case systm of te relatve pronoun, and indicat which number and case te Latn equivalent would be in.
Examples:
A. “George kicked te dog. Te dog lives next door”.
English: “George kicked te dog tat (which) lives next door”. Latn: nominatve singular
B. “Te students don’t like Latn. Te tachers gave te students a book”.
English: “Te girls, t whom te tacher gave a book, don’t like Latn”. Latn: datve plural
1. “Tey see te cars. Te cars belong t George”.
English:
Latn:
2. “George likes hard boiled eggs. George’s broter is in jail”.
English:
Latn: 3. “Many students are never prepared for class. Te professor is writng a very difficult final exam for te students”.
English:
Latn:
4. “Te rocks fel off te cliff. Te rocks were very slick”.
English:
Latn:
5. “Bety avoids my broter. My broter’s hair is dyed pea-green”.
English:
Latn:
THE LATIN RELATIVE PRONOUN
We’ve done al te difficult work. You understand what a relatve clause is: (1) tey are subordinat clauses; (2) tey are intoduced by relatve pronouns; (3) te relatve pronoun agrees in number and gender wit its antcedent, but gets its case fom te way it’s being used in its own clause; and (4) tey modif someting in te main clause. Now you have only t learn te declensional systm of te Latn relatve pronoun and practce wit it.
Te Latn relatve pronoun has a fl declensional systm. Tat is t say, it has 30 separat forms: five cases in tree genders in bot numbers. Te stm is “qu-” and it folows basicaly te patern set down by te pronouns “is, ea, id”, “ile, ila, ilud”, etc. But tere are some substantal variatons. Here is te fl patern. Look for regularites first; ten go back and colect te deviatons.
MASCULINE FEMININE NEUTER
Nom. qui quae quod Gen. cuius cuius cuius Dat. cui cui cui Acc. quem quam quod Abl. quo qua quo
Nom. qui quae quae Gen. quorum quarum quorum Dat. quibus quibus quibus Acc. quos quas quae Abl. quibus quibus quibus
Let’s start te close up examinaton by running down te masculine forms first.
(1) Te nominatve case singular is a litle unusual: qui, but most of te demonstatves and pronouns are odd in te nominatve singular. (2) Te genitve and datve singulars (of te genders) use te predictable pronoun case endings “-ius” and “-i”, but te stm has changed fom “qu-” t “cu-”. (3) In te accusatve singular you’d expect “quum” (“qu” + “um”); but no such luck: “quem” is te form. Te “-em” looks as if it’s “borrowed” fom te tird declension, doesn’t it. (4) Tings calm down for a while, but te datve and ablatve plurals use te “-ibus” ending which tey evidently import fom te tird declension. Notce again tat “quibus” is te form for al te genders in te datve and ablatve plural.
Now let’s have a look at te feminine.
(1) Nominatve’s odd: “quae” instad of “qua”. But so what? (2) Genitve and datve singular: stm “cu-” + “-ius” and “-i”. Like te masculine. (3) Finaly, te datve and ablatve plurals aren’t “quis” but, like te masculine, “quibus”.
And ten te neutr.
(1) Aftr having seen te masculine and feminine forms of te relatve pronoun, te only tuly unexpectd quirk of te neutr is te nominatve, hence also accusatve, plural: you get “quae” instad of “qua”. Pay atenton, now, te form “quae” can be any one of four possibilites: (a) feminine nominatve singular; (b) feminine nominatve plural; (c) neutr nominatve plural; (d) neutr accusatve plural. Contxt wil be your only guide.
Now ty t writ out te forms of te relatve pronoun on your own.
MASCULINE FEMININE NEUTER
Nom. ______
Gen. ______
Dat. ______
Acc. ______
Abl. ______
Nom. ______
Gen. ______
Dat. ______
Acc. ______
Abl. ______
Okay, now let’s take apart a couple of Latn sentnces wit relatve clauses. Translat tese sentnces, and tl me te number gender and case of te relatve pronouns. Try folowing tese stps:
(1) Go slowly; (2) First read te entre sentnce and ty t identf te main clause and te relatve clause. Te relatve clause wil begin wit te relatve pronoun and probably end wit a verb; (3) Aftr you’ve isolatd te relatve clause, forget it for a moment, and concentat on tanslatng te main clause -- te main clause is, aftr al, te most important tought in te sentnce; (4) Next, look at te relatve pronoun and ty t figure out it number and gender -- forget about te case for now. You want t match up te relatve pronoun wit its antcedent, and te relatve pronoun wil agree wit its antcedent in number and gender. (5) Aftr al tat, ten you’re ready t tanslat te relatve clause. For tat you’l need t know te case of te relatve pronoun. Look carefly, and use what you know about its gender and number t check off any multple possibilites. (6) Te last stp, ten, aftr al te pieces of te sentnce have been analyzed separatly, is t put it al back tgeter. (7) Go slowly.
1. “Vidi canem qui ex Asia venit”. (canis, -is (m) “dog”)
Translaton: ______
Relatve Pronoun: ______2. “Vidi canes quos amas”.
Translaton: ______
Relatve Pronoun: ______
3. “Puelae, quarum patr est parvus, sunt magnae”.
Translaton: ______
Relatve Pronoun: ______
4. “Vidi pueros quibus libros dedists”.
Translaton: ______
Relatve Pronoun: ______
5. “Vidi pueros cum quibus venists”.
Translaton: ______
Relatve Pronoun: ______
6. “Civem quem miserats laudaverunt”.
Translaton: ______Relatve Pronoun: ______
Now let’s do it te oter way.
1. “Te trant destoyed te cites fom which te citzens had fled”.
______
2. “He came wit te citzen t whom tey had entustd teir lives”.
______
3. “I saw te citzens wit whom you had fled”.
______
4. “Tey have te money wit which te trant captured te cit”.
______
5. “Te fater whose sons were stupid came out of Asia”.
______VOCABULARY PUZZLES aut...aut It used like tis: aut x aut y = eiter x or y. coepi, coepisse, coeptus Te first enty for tis verb is te perfect tnse, first person singular. Te second is te perfect infinitve (which you have seen yet), and te tird enty is te fourt principal part. Te verb is listd tis way because it has no first principal part -- which mean logicaly tat “coepi” has no present systm tnses: no present, fture, or imperfect. Anoter way t list tis verb would be: “------, ------, coepi, coeptus”. Verbs which lack one or more principal part are caled “defectve verbs”. To say “I begin”, “I wil begin”, or “I was beginning”, Latn uses te first principal part of te verb “incipio, -ere, -cepi, -ceptus.
01/08/93