Relative clauses and gerund/infinitive

RELATIVE CLAUSES

FUNCIÓN:

Usamos “relative clauses” para dar más información sobre una persona, cosa, tiempo o lugar.

Relative clauses	Significado	Información
Who	Quien	Personas
Where	Donde	Lugares
When	Cuando	Momentos/Tiempo
Which/That	Cual/Que	Cosas y/o objetos

                

FORMA:

Relative clauses	Ejemplos
Who	I thanked the person who found my wallet this morning on the subway.
Where	The best time to call him is when the finishes his meeting at 10:30 a.m.
When	The Blue Lounge was place where I used to meet my friends.
Which/That	I think it was a trip to Paris that made me want to learn French.

CUIDADO! x   The report that it has all the information is on your desk.  ü  The report that has all the information is on your desk.  x   The man which donated a lot of money is a billionaire.  ü  The man who donated a lot of money is a billionaire.

Nota 1: El pronombre relativo que se usa en lugar del pronombre posesivo. Debe ser seguido por un sustantivo. Ejemplo: There's a boy in grade 8 whose father is a professional tennis player.

Nota 2: Los pronombres relativos donde y cuando se usan con nombres de lugar y tiempo. Ejemplos: FIS is a school where children from more than 50 countries are educated. 2001 was the year when terrorists attacked the Twin Towers in New York.

Una proposición relativa no definitoria o explicativa, nos da más información sobre la persona o cosa de que se trate. Si eliminamos una proposición explicativa perdemos algunos datos pero el significado general de la oración principal sigue siendo el mismo. Las proposiciones subordinadas explicativas siempre se delimitan con comas o paréntesis.

EJEMPLOS

• The farmer, whose name was Fred, sold us 10 pounds of potatoes.
• Elephants, which are the largest land mammals, live in herds of 10 or more adults.
• The author, who graduated from the same university I did, gave a wonderful presentation.
• My mother, who is 86, lives in Paris.

EJERCICIOS:

Completa las siguientes oraciones con: which/that, who, when o where.

    1. A web designer is a person _____ can make your website look more professional.

    2. It´s a technique ______ helps you learn more effectively.

    3. A good time to do brain training is _____ you feel relaxed.

    4. It was my brother ______ used to take us swimming every Sunday.

    5. We got married at place _____ we first met.

    6. I´m going to choose a course _____ I´m really interested in.

VERB + GERUND/INFINITIVE

                   

FORMA:

	EJEMPLOS	OTROS VERBOS
Verbo+gerundio	·      Isobel usually avoids driving downtown. ·      I finished reading that novel.	Admit, avoid, deny, dislike, finish.
Verbo+infinitivo	·      Did you manage to find the song on the internet? ·      We offered to make some coffe for them.	Agree, help, invite, manage, offer, plan, promise, refuse, seem.
Verbo+gerundio/ infinitivo	·      I like going out. ·      I like go out every now and then.	Hate, like, love, prefer.

CUIDADO!   x   We discussed to read that new novel.    ü  We discussed reading that new novel.    x   The story was long, but I managed to finish it.  ü  The story was long, but I manage finishing it.

EJERCICIOS:

Completa las oraciones con el verbo en el paréntesis en la correcta forma (gerundio o infinitivo).

   1.    He admitted _________ (copy) the story from another book.  

   2.    Have you finished _________ (read) that book I lent you yet?

   3.    I thought the story seemed _________ (end) suddenly.

  4.   Traditional stories sometimes teach people _________ (behave) in the right way.

   5.    Why do so many young people dislike __________ (write)? 

   6.    I hope _________ (become) a full-time writer by the time I´m 30.

   7.    My parents advised my sister ________ (take) that job.

   8.    I want to avoid _________ full-time for as long as possible.