I have highlighted the relative clauses in the text below. For each one, decide which NP each RC modifies. What sentence role (function) does the relative pronoun play in the RC? The answers are below the text. In addition, analyze the sentences which contain #8 and #9 with phrase markers. (The phrase markers are not shown here.)
Collaborative filtering is a promising new technology. This is the thinking (1) that is behind it . In an ideal world,when we enter a bookstore, the owner knows us. She knows the books (2) that we have enjoyed in the past and those that we have loathed. On the basis of that knowledge, she can recommend books (3) that she believes we will enjoy . We, in turn, may recommend those books to our friends, (4) who recommend them to others. Independent bookstore owners provide a valuable service to their customers and authors. This insider knowledge (5) that the small bookstore owner has could possibly be duplicated by computers in large impersonal bookstores and videostores. Imagine that you're a customer in a bookstore (6) who doesn't know which book you should buy. You type into a terminal the names of several books (7) that you have enjoyed in the past. Entering many titles guarantees you better results. The computer program will examine the titles (8) you have entered. It will find other people (9) who have entered those same titles. It will then find titles on their lists (10) which are not on yours. Those titles are then suggested to you.
(1) modifies "the thinking"-- "that" is the subject of the RC
(2) modifies "the books"-- "that" is the D. O. of the RC
(3) modifies "books" -- "that" is the D.O. of the RC
(4) modifies "friends" -- "who" is Subject
(5) modifies "the insider knowledge" -- "that" is DO
(6) modifies "customer" -- "who" is Subject
(7) modifies "books" -- "that" is D.O.
(8) modifies "titles" --zero relative pronoun is D.O.
(9) modifies "people" -- "who" is Subject
(10) modifies "titles (on their lists)"-- "which" is Subject
In the following passage, try to locate the zero relatives, those relative clauses in which the relative pronoun has been omitted. As you have done before in exercises involving relative clauses, decide what the relative clause is, determine what the relative clause is modifying, and determine what function the zero relative plays in the relative clause. The solution follows the text.
This is the exercise I was telling you about. Do you remember the one I mean? We were talking about relative clauses that don't have relative pronouns. Those are the ones we call zero relatives. Can you find the zero relatives I've put in this text? Can you tell me the function the zero relative pronoun plays in the clause? You should find five.
1. (0) I was telling you about ___--modifies "the exercise" -- zero functions as obj of prep
2. (0) I mean ___ --- modifies "the one"-----zero functions as direct object
3. (0) we call ___ zero relatives----modifies "the ones"-----zero functions as direct object
4. (0) I've put ___ in this text ---modifies "the zero relatives" ----zero functions as direct object
5. (0) the zero relative pronoun plays ___ in the clause --modifies "the function"--zero functions as d.o.
Read the short text and decide if the clauses in the questions which follow are adverbial or relative. If you decide a clause is a relative, determine if it is restrictive or nonrestrictive. Also determine how the relative pronoun functions within its clause.
Dr. Berzins has had her suit since 1994, when she was interviewed on a local television news series called "Fat and Forgotten," for which a reporter used a fat suit to investigate anti-fat prejudice. After the show, Dr. Berzins, who weighs about a hundred and fifteen pounds, begged to be given the suit. She now uses it when she gives lectures to schoolchildren. She arrives in the suit, which pushes her apparent weight to about two hundred and fifty pounds, and begins a talk on body image and the media. The students yawn and shift in their seats. Then she leaves the room for a moment, like Clark Kent. When she reappears without the suit, she suddenly has her audience's attention. A discussion ensues. (by Ian Parker from The New Yorker, July 16, 2001, p. 28)
1."when she was interviewed on a local television news series called "Fat and Forgotten"Answers: 6. adverbial 5.relative, nonrestrictive, subject 4. adverbial 3.relative, nonrestrictive, subject 2. relative, nonrestrictive, obj of preposition 1.relative, nonrestrictive, adverbial