Basic English Usage - Past 11

3 In ‘identifying’ relative clauses see 280, we often leave out object pronouns.. whatsurprised everybody 6 Some relative clauses ‘identify’ nouns — they tell us which person or thing is

Quite has two meanings Compare:

Is quite good — 1f's quite impossible

Good is a ‘gradable’ adjective: things can be more or less good

Impossible is not ‘gradable’ Things cannot be more or less impossible; they are impossible or they are not

With gradable adjectives, quite means something like ‘fairly’ or ‘rather’ (See 124.)

‘How's your steak?’ ‘Quite nice.’

She’s quite pretty She'd look better if she dressed differently, though With non-gradable adjectives, quite means ‘completely’

His French is quite perfect The bird was quite dead

We put quite before a/an

quite anice day quite an interesting film

We can use quite with verbs

| quite like her | Have you quite finished?

real(ly)

In informal English (especially American English), rea/is often used as

an adverb instead of realiy before adverbs and adjectives

That was realnice She cooks real well

Some people consider this ‘incorrect’

I cut myself shaving this morning (NOT teutme .)

We got out of the river and dried ourselves (NOT dredts-) Why's she talking to herself?

We do not usually use reflexive pronouns with wash, cress or shave

Do you shave on Sundays?(NOT shave-yourself _.)

After prepositions, we use personal pronouns instead of reflexives when itis clear which person we are talking about

She took her dog with her (NOT with-herseff.)

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We can use reflexive pronouns to mean ‘that person/thing and nobody/ nothing else’

it's quicker if you do it yourself

The manager spoke to me himself

The house itself is nice, but the garden's very small

By myself, by yourself etc has two meanings

‘alone’

| often like to spend time by myself

‘without heip’

‘Can | help you?’ “No, thanks | can do it by myself.’

Don’t confuse -se/ves and each other (see 105)

They are thinking They are thinking

about themselves about each other

relative pronouns

Relative pronouns are who, whom, whose, which, that and what

Relative pronouns do two things:

a they join clauses together, like conjunctions

b they are the subjects or objects of clauses (except whose)

Compare:

What's the name of the tall man? He just came in

What's the name of the tail man who just came in?

(Who joins the two clauses together It is the subject of the second Clause: we use who in the same way as he.)

This is Ms Rogers You met her last year

This is Ms Rogers, whom you met last year

(Whom joins the two clauses together It is the object of the second Clause: we use whom in the same way as her.)

217 277

I've got a book It might interest you

I've got a book which might interest you

(Which joins the two clauses together It is the subject of the second clause: we use which in the same way as it.)

I’ve found the paper You were looking for it

i've found the paper which you were looking for

(Which is the object of the second clause.)

One subject or object is enough

Here’s the book which you asked for

(NOT Here-sthe-book-whiet you askec_feHtt )

We use who/whom for people and which for things

She s a person who can do anything (NOT aperserrwhiet it's a machine which can do anything (NOT @maehinewhe

2 Weoften use that instead of which in ‘identifying’ relative clauses (see 280)

i've got a book that might interest you

Have you got a map that shows all the motorways?

In an informal style, we also use that instead of who(m)

There's the woman that works in the photographer's

You remember the boy that | was talking about?

3 In ‘identifying’ relative clauses (see 280), we often leave out object pronouns

You remember the boy (that) | was talking about?

I've found the paper (that) you were looking for

4 Wecanuse when and where in a similar way to relative pronouns Can you tell me a time when you'll be free?

(= atimeatwhich .)

| Know a place where you can find wild strawberries

5 Donot use what instead of that or which

Everything that happened was my fault (NOT whathappened She got married again, which surprised everybody

(NOT whatsurprised everybody)

6 Some relative clauses ‘identify’ nouns — they tell us which person or thing is meant

What's the name of the tall man who just came in?

Other relative clauses tell us more about a noun which is already identified

This is Ms Rogers, whom you met last year

For whose, see 279 For what, see 278

relative pronouns: what

What is different from other relative pronouns

Other relative pronouns usually refer to a noun that comes before

ro

| gave her the money that she needed

The thing that I'd like most is a home computer

(That refers to —- repeats the meaning of — the money and the thing.)

! gave her what she needed (What = the money that.) What I'd like most is a home computer (What = the thing that.)

Do not use what with the same meaning as that

You can have everything (that) you like

(NOT ©everythrngwhatyotrtke-) The only thing that makes me feel better is coffee

(NOT -Fhe-onty thing-what )

We use which, not what, to refer to a whole sentence that comes before

47>

Sally married George, which made Paul very unhappy

(NOT whatmadePautvery unhappy)

relative pronouns: whose

Whose is a possessive relative word It does two things:

a it joins clauses together

b itis a ‘determiner’ (see 96), like his, her, its or their Compare:

| saw a girl Her hair came down to her waist

| saw a girl whose hair came down to her waist

This is Felicity You met her sister last week

This is Felicity, whose sister you met last week

Our friends the Robbins — we spent the summer at their farmhouse — are moving to Scotland

Our friends the Robbins, at whose farmhouse we spent the summer, are moving to Scotland

For the interrogative pronoun whose, see 253.3

Some relative clauses ‘identify’ nouns They tell us which person or thing

is meant

What's the name of the tall man who just came in?

(who just came in tells the hearer which tall man is meant: it identifies the man.)

Whose is the car that’s parked outside?

(that's parked outside tells the hearer which car is meant: it identifies the car.)

Other relative clauses do not identify They tell us more about a person

or thing that is already identified

This is Ms Rogers, whom you met last year

(whom you met last year does not tell us which woman is meant: we already know that it is Ms Rogers.)

Have you seen my new car, which | bought last week?

(which | bought last week does not tell us which caris meant: we already know that it is ‘my new car’.)

Non-identifying clauses are separated from the rest of the sentence by commas (,,) Identifying clauses do not have commas Compare: The woman who does my hair has moved to another hairdresser's Dorothy, who does my hair, has moved to another hairdresser's

We only use that in identifying clauses And we can only leave out the object in identifying clauses Compare:

The whisky (that) you drank last night cost £15 a bottle

! gave him a large glass of whisky, which he drank at once

(NOT whisky-thathedrank )(NOT whisky-hedrank ) Whom is unusual in identifying clauses Compare:

The man (that) my daughter wants to marry has been divorced twice Max Harrison, whom my daughter wants to marry, has been divorced twice

Non-identifying clauses are unusual in an informal style

remind

You remind somebody to do something that he might forget

We do not use remember with this meaning

Please remind me to post these /etters

(NOT Pease rememberme .)

! reminded her to send her sister a birthday card

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We use remind ofto say that something makes us remember the past

remind + object + of

The smell of hay always reminds me of our old house in the country She reminds me of her mother (= She looks like her mother, or she behaves like her mother.)

reported speech and direct speech

There are two ways of telling a person what somebody else said

a direct speech

SUE: What did Bill say?

PETER: He said ‘Iwant to go home’

b reported speech

SUE: What aid Bill say?

PETER: He said that he wanted to go home

When we use ‘direct speech’, we give the exact words (more or less) that were said When we use ‘reported speech’, we change the words that were said to make them fit into our own sentence (For example, when Peter is talking about Bill he says he wanted, not / want.) For details, see 283

We use a conjunction to join a reported speech clause to the rest of the sentence

a reported statements: that

He said that he wanted to go home

In an informal style we can leave out that

He said he wanted to go home

b reported questions: if, whether, what, where, how, etc

She asked me if | wanted anything to drink

She asked me what my name was

When we report orders, requests, advice etc, we usually use an infinitive structure

Who toid you to put the lights off?

! advised Lucy to go to the police

For more details of these structures, see 284: 285

‘Reported speech’ is not only used to report what people say We use the same structure to report people's thoughts, beliefs, knowledge etc

! thought something was wrong

She knew what | wanted

Ann wondered if Mr Blackstone really understood her

Pronouns

In reported speech, we use the same pronouns to talk about people that

we use in other structures

Bill said he didn't like the party

(NOT -Đsaidtdidrrtiike the party-)

‘Here and now’ words

When somebody is speaking, he or she uses words like this, here, now

to talk about the place where he or she is speaking, and the time when the words are said

If we report the words in a different place at a different time, we will not use this, here, now etc

Bill said he didn't like the party

(NOT -ĐHFsaid he didrrLlike this party: )

Tenses

When we report things that people said in the past, we do not usually use the same tenses as they used (This is because the times are different.)

Bill said he didn’t like the party

(NOT Bitsaie he dees tike the party)

Compare:

Original words Reported speech

Will you marry me? | asked him if he would marry me

(NOT #Hhe-wifhrarry me-) You look nice | told her she looked nice

(NOT shetooks-nice-) I'm learning French She said she was learning French

(NOT shefstearning ) I've forgotten He said he had forgotten

(NOT fehas-forgetten-) John phoned She told me that John had phoned

(NOT “pe thatdohrrphoned-)

Original words Reported speech

The earth goes round the sun He proved that the earth goes/

went round the sun

How old are you? | asked how old you are/were For mustin reported speech, see 207.3

reported speech: questions

In reported questions, the subject comes before the verb

He asked where | was going

(NOT where-was-tgeing-)

| asked where the President and his wife were staying

(NOT †+askedwherewere )

Auxiliary do is not used

{ wondered how they felt (NOT hew-did-they-feel-)

Question marks are not used

We asked where the money was (NOT wherethe-rroneywas?) When there is no question word (who, what, how etc), we use if or whether to introduce indirect questions

The driver asked if/whether | wanted the town centre

| don't know if/whether | can help you

For the difference between if and whether, see 361

reported speech: orders, requests, advice etc

We usually use an infinitive structure to report orders, requests, advice and suggestions

verb + object + infinitive

| told Andrew to be careful

The lady downstairs has asked us to be quiet after nine o'clock

| advise you to think again before you decide which one to buy The policeman told me not to park there

We do not use say in this structure

She told me to be quiet (NOT She said-mete-be-quiet-)

For the exact difference between say and tell, see 289.

Common structures used in polite requests:

Could you possibly help me for a few minutes? (very polite)

/ wonder if you could help me for a few minutes? (very polite)

Could you help me for a few minutes?

You couldn't help me for a few minutes, could you?

If we use other structures (for example imperatives), we are not asking people to do things, but telling them to do things (giving orders) This may seem rude, and make people angry

Please changes an order into a polite order, but it does not change it into a request

Please help me for a few minutes

Carry this for me, please

Please answer by return of post Please type your letter

You had better help me

(These are all orders They are NOT polite ways of asking people to do things for you.)

For the use of imperatives to give advice, make suggestions etc, see 170

In shops, restaurants etc, we generally ask for things like this:

Can I have one of those, please?

Could I have a red one?

Fd like another glass of wine, please

! would prefer a small one

Could is a little ‘softer’ than can

We do not use negative questions in polite requests But we often use negative statements with question tags

You couldn't give me a light, could you?

(NOT : ight?)

For the use of negative questions, see 214

For question tags, see 273

For other rules of ‘social’ language, see 313

road and street

A street is a road with houses on either side We use street for roads in towns, but not for country roads

Cars can park on both sides of our street

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289

Road is used for both town and country

Cars can park on both sides of our road

There’s a narrow winding road from our village to the next one (NOT @narrewwinding street )

Note that, in street names, we stress the word Road, but the word before Street

Marylebone 'Road ‘Oxford Street

the same

We always use the before same

Give me the same again, please

(NOT -Girre- me -same-again;please-)

| want the same shirt as my friend's

(NOT +wantersame-shitttike my friend, )

We use the same as before a noun or pronoun

Her hair's the same colour as her mother's

(NOT the same-ecolourtike-hermeothers-)

We use the same that before a clause

That’s the same man that asked me for money yesterday

say anc tell

Teli means ‘inform’ or ‘order’ After fell, we usually say who is told: a personal object is necessary

She told me that she would be late (NOT Shetoldthatshe .) { told the children to go away

Say is usually used without a personal object

She said that she would be late (NOT Ske-saidime .)

If we want to put a personal abject after say, we use to

She said ‘Go away’ to the children

Say is often used before direct speech Tell is not

She said ‘Go away’ (NOT Shetetd-Ge-away+)

In a few expressions, we use fel/ without a personal object The most common: tell the truth, tell a lie, tell the time (= know how to read a clock)

! don't think she’s telling the truth (NOT saying-the-truth-) He’s seven years old and he still can't tell the time

I can see a rabbit over there (NOT #m-seeing )

See can also mean ‘understand’ We do not use progessive tenses

‘We've got a problem.’ 1 see.’ (NOT #mseeing.)

When see means meet, interview, talk fo, progressive tenses are possible

I’m seeing Miss Barnett at four o'clock

Far the difference between /ook (at), watch and see, see 196

seem

Seemis a ‘copula verb’ (see 91) After seem, we use adjectives, not adverbs

seem + adjective

You seem angry about something (NOT Yeu-seenvangrily )

We use seem to be before a noun

seem to be + noun

| spoke to a man who seemed to be the boss

Other structures: seem + infinitive; seem like

Contractions are /'ll, we’lland shan’t (see 90)

Pll see you tomorrow Í shag'† be late