Relative Sentences

Hey!

Look at these examples:

I talked to the man who gave you the present.

I gave you the letter which came this morning.

Here, 'who gave you the present' and 'which came this morning' are defining relative clauses. They tell us which person or which thing the speaker mean, that is, they define and provide us with essential information about the man and the letter (in grammatical terms, the antecedent). Which man? The one that gave you a present. Which letter? The one that arrived this morning.

So, a relative sentence is a class of compound sentence with a subordinate clause that is introduced by a relative pronoun. This year, the relative pronouns that we are to study are who (for people), which (for things and animals) and that (more informal for things, animals and people), and the relative adverb where (for places). The rest of relative pronouns and adverbs will be studied in the years to come. Examples:
This is the man who killed my bird. (= This is the man that killed my bird)
This is the cat which killed my bird. (= This is the cat that killed my bird)
This is the city where I was born.

In the first two examples above the relative pronouns function as the subject of the subordinate clause (not in the last example, where is a locative). But, notice that when who, which or that are not the subject of the relative clause, we can leave them out, that is, we can omit them. This is what is called zero-pronoun.

This is the man who I saw with Mary.
This is the man that I saw with Mary.
This is the man I saw with Mary.

I've read the book which you recommended me.
I've read the book that you recommended me.
I've read the book you recommended me.

Note that the who, that and which replace the subject personal pronoun.
I talked to a woman. She gave you Peter's book.
I talked to the woman who gave you Peter's book.
NOT: I talked to the woman who she gave you Peter's book.

Relative clauses can have prepositional verbs. Then, it is very normal to put the preposition at the end of the clause and so you can leave out the pronoun if you like. Look:
The girl who I was looking at was very pretty.
The girl that I was looking at was very pretty.
The girl I was looking at was very pretty.


The book which I referred to was very interesting.
The book that I referred to was very interesting.
The book I referred to was very interesting.


¡Qué hay!
Observa estos ejemplos:

I talked to the man who gave you the present.

I gave you the letter which came this morning.

En estos casos,  'who gave you the present' y 'which came this morning' son are oraciones de relativo especificativas. Nos dicen qué persona o qué cosa quiere decir o referirse el hablante, vaya, que definen y nos dan información esencial sobre el hombre y la carta (llamados en gramática antecedentes). ¿Qué hombre? El que te dio un regalo. ¿Qué carta? La que llegó esta mañana.

Así que, una oración de relativo es una clase de oración compuesta con una proposición subordinada que va introducida por un pronombre relativo. Este año los pronombres relativos que vamos a estudiar son who (para personas), which (para cosas y animales) and that (más informal para personas, animales y cosas), y el adverbio relativo where (para lugares). El resto de pronombres y adverbios relativos se estudiarán en los próximos años. Ejemplos:
This is the man who killed my bird. (= This is the man that killed my bird)
This is the cat which killed my bird. (= This is the cat that killed my bird)
This is the city where I was born.

I've read the book which you recommended me.
I've read the book that you recommended me.
I've read the book you recommended me.

Date cuenta de que who, that y which reemplazan al pronombre sujeto.
I talked to a woman. She gave you Peter's book.
I talked to the woman who gave you Peter's book.
NO: I talked to the woman who she gave you Peter's book.

Las oraciones relativas pueden llevar verbos preposicionales. En ese caso, es normal poner la preposición al final de la proposición subordinada, y así tener la posibilidad de omitir el pronombre si queremos. Mira:
The girl who I was looking at was very pretty.
The girl that I was looking at was very pretty.
The girl I was looking at was very pretty.


The book which I referred to was very interesting.
The book that I referred to was very interesting.
The book I referred to was very interesting.


For practice: Exercise1, Exercise2, Exercise3.

Reported Speech

Hi pupils!
When we want to communicate or report what another person has said, there are two ways: using direct speech or indirect (or reported) speech.

Direct Speech
When we tell exactly what someone else has said, we use direct speech. In this type of discourse, the person's words are placed in quotes and must be word for word. Examples:

She said,"I'm travelling to America."
"Do you have a pen I could borrow?" he asked.
The teacher shouted: "Please, be quiet!"

Reported Speech

Reported speech, unlike direct speech, does not use quotes and need not be word for word. In general, when using reported speech, the tense changes. Below is an explanation of the changes they undergo.

Tense shift is done whenever the reporting verb is in the past. This is called backshift. If it is in the present however no tense changes are undergone in the reported speech sentence, but other changes may occur, especially in some particles (adverbs, pronouns and determiners). Look at these examples:
D.S. Mary says, "I want to go now." --> R.S. Mary says that she wants to go now.   
D.S. Mary said, "I want to go now." --> R.S. Mary said that she wanted to go then.

In the first example, the reporting verb (says) is in the present simple tense, so, no tense change is undergone, but there is a change in the referent of the subject pronoun (now I becomes she). Yet, in the second example, the reporting verb (said) in the past simple tense applies backshift. There are changes in the verb tense, in the subject pronoun and in the time adverb too. 

Backshift in verb tense refers to a step back in time, that is to say, a present simple in direct speech becomes a past simple in reported speech. Thus, present continuous will be past continuous, past simple and present perfect both become past perfect,  Will becomes would, can turns to could, shall to should, may to might, must to had to and so on. We do not change a past perfect or a past modal (could, should, might, had to...) when turning from direct to indirect speech.

Some particles and adverbials are also affected by backshift:  
now - then
here - there 
I - he / she
We - they
my - his / her
our - their

yesterday - the previous day / the day before
last night - the previous night / the night before
tomorrow - the next day / the following day / the day after  
next week - the next week / the following week / the week after


Depending on the type of sentence, reported speech is done in one way or another. Remember that we can find, among others, statements, questions and commands.  

a) Statements: Reported statements are headed by a that-clause. We use that (we can willingly omit it) to introduce the reported clause.    
D.S. She said, "I'm travelling to America." --> R.S. She said that she was travelling to America. 
D.S. Anna said to me, "I won't go out with you." --> R.S. Anna told me she wouldn't go out with me. 



b) Questions:  Interrogative sentences can be introduced by if or whether (for yes/no questions) or by a question word (for wh-questions). The connectors here cannot be omitted, unlike that in statements. Examples:
D.S. She asked, "Do you speak English?" --> R.S. She asked if I spoke English. 
D.S. They asked: "Are you coming or not?" --> R.S. They wanted to know whether I was coming. 
D.S. "How old are you?" asked the man. -->  R.S. The man asked how old I was.


Notice that the word order in the reported interrogative sentence does not undergo subject-auxiliary inversion, applicable only to direct questions.

c) Commands: Imperatives and orders are transformed into reported speech by means of a to-infinitive clause with an indirect object. Typical reporting verbs for commands are tell, order, ask, advise, warn, etc.

D.S. John said: "Open your books, please." --> R.S. John asked the students to open their books.
D.S. Dad said: "Don't be late home tonight!" --> R.S. Dad told me not to be late home that night.


¡Hola alumnos! 
Cuando queremos comunicar o informar de lo que otra persona ha dicho, existen dos maneras de hacerlo: utilizando el estilo directo y el estilo indirecto.



Estilo Directo 
Cuando queremos informar exactamente lo que otra persona ha dicho, usamos el estilo directo.  Con este estilo, lo que la persona ha dicho se coloca entre comillas, y deberá ser palabra por palabra. Ejemplos:
She said,"I'm travelling to America."
"Do you have a pen I could borrow?" he asked.
The teacher shouted: "Please, be quiet!"

Estilo Indirecto
El estilo indirecto, a diferencia del directo, no usa comillas y no tiene que ser palabra por palabra. En general, cuando usamos el estilo indirecto, el tiempo del verbo va a cambiar. A continuación voy a explicar los cambios que sufren los tiempos verbales.


El cambio de tiempo verbal se realiza siempre y cuando el verbo que introduce el estilo directo esté en pasado. A esto se le llama backshift. No obstante, si dicho verbo está en presente, no se van a realizar cambios en los tiempos verbales, aunque si suelen ocurrir otros cambios, sobre todo en algunas partículas (adverbios, pronombres y determinantes). Observa estos ejemplos:
D.S. Mary says, "I want to go now." --> R.S. Mary says that she wants to go now.   
D.S. Mary said, "I want to go now." --> R.S. Mary said that she wanted to go then.

En el primer ejemplo, el verbo introductorio (says) está en presente así que no se aplican los cambios, pero cambia el referente del pronombre sujeto (ahora "I" pasa a ser "she"). En cambio, en el segundo ejemplo, el verbo introductorio (said) en pasado provoca el backshift. Hay pues cambios en el tiempo verbal, en el pronombre sujeto y en el adverbio de tiempo.


El backshift que afecta al verbo se refiere a un paso atrás en el tiempo, o sea, un presente simple en estilo directo pasa a ser un pasado simple en estilo indirecto. Así pues, el presente continuo se convierte en pasado continuo, el pasado simple y el presente perfecto pasan a pasado perfecto, 'will' es 'would',  'can' es 'could', 'shall' es 'should', 'may' es 'might', 'must' es 'had to', etc. Cuando pasamos de estilo directo a indirecto no cambiamos el pasado perfecto ni los modales de perfecto.


Algunas partículas y complementos circunstanciales también se ven afectados por el backshift:
now - then
here - there 
I - he / she
We - they
my - his / her
our - their
yesterday - the previous day / the day before
last night - the previous night / the night before
tomorrow - the next day / the following day / the day after  
next week - the next week / the following week / the week after

Dependiendo del tipo de oración, el estilo indirecto se hace de una forma u otra. Recuerda que podemos encontrar, entre otros, enunciativas, interrogativas y exhortativas.

a) Enunciativas: van encabezadas por una oración con 'that'. Usamos 'that' (que se puede omitir al gusto del consumidor) para introducir la frase indirecta.
D.S. She said, "I'm travelling to America." --> R.S. She said that she was travelling to America. 
D.S. Anna said to me, "I won't go out with you." --> R.S. Anna told me she wouldn't go out with me.

b) Interrogativas: Las interrogativas pueden introducirse con 'if' o 'whether' (para las preguntas totales, del tipo si/no) o con un pronombre interrogativo (si son preguntas parciales, con pronombres o adverbios interrogativos). En este tipo de oraciones los conectores nunca se omiten, a diferencia de lo que ocurría con las enunciativas y 'that'. Ejemplos:
D.S. She asked, "Do you speak English?" --> R.S. She asked if I spoke English. 
D.S. They asked: "Are you coming or not?" --> R.S. They wanted to know whether I was coming. 
D.S. "How old are you?" asked the man. -->  R.S. The man asked how old I was.

Observa que el orden de las palabras en la oración interrogativa de estilo indirecto no conlleva inversión de sujeto y verbo, aplicable solamente a las preguntas directas.

c) Exhortativas:  Las imperativas y órdenes se transforman a estilo indirecto a través de una oración de infinitivo con 'to' precedido por un complemento indirecto. Los verbos introductorios típicos de las exhortativas son: tell, order, ask, advise, warn, etc.

D.S. John said: "Open your books, please." --> R.S. John asked the students to open their books.
D.S. Dad said: "Don't be late home tonight!" --> R.S. Dad told me not to be late home that night.

For practice: Exercise1, Exercise2, Exercise3, Exercise4.

Present Passive & Past Passive

Hiya!

So far we have talked about the active voice, where we focus the verb action on the subject. But when we put more emphasis on the action itself and not the doer of the action, then we use the passive voice. The possibilities of a sentence transformation from active to passive depend on transitivity: only transitive sentences -those containing a direct object- can be turned into passive, since it is the object in the active that becomes the subject in the passive. On the other hand, the active subject becomes the agent in the passive sentence. In English, the agent is introduced by the preposition by. The shift in the verb is made by means of the verb to be just in the same tense as the active verb, then followed by the past participle of that verb. Look at the following structures and examples:

Active:   Subj + Vb + Obj          Peter washes the car.      
Passive: Subj + Vb + Ag          The car is washed by Peter.

Types of Passives
The first type includes the active direct object as the subject in the passive sentence (especially in monotransitive structures):
John saw us in the park last Friday --> We were seen (by John) in the park last Friday
Somebody killed the dog --> The dog was killed 
 
Another type of passive construction has the indirect object in the active as the subject in the passive (especially in ditransitive constructions, that is to say, sentences with a direct object and an indirect object):
The teacher told Sarah her exam marks --> Sarah was told her exam marks
The Queen gave Beckham a gold medal --> Beckham was given a gold medal by the Queen

Notice that with double-object structures, a direct-object-to-subject passive is possible, though the indirect-object construction is best preferred.
A gold medal was given to Beckham by the Queen.

In forthcoming years, you will study another type of passives: impersonal passives.


Choice of Agent
The agent can be optional, obligatory or forbidden in a passive sentence.

◘ 'Optional' means that it is up to the speaker to mention the doer or simply not to mention it. Optional agents are usually common people and the personal pronouns other than they.  
The children wrote letters --> Letters were written (by the children).
Samuel makes mistakes  --> Mistakes are made (by Samuel). 

The focus here is on the action; if I do not want to blame anyone, I do not mention the agent, but if I want to refer to who makes the mistakes, for example, then I do mention the agent. You see, it depends on me. Remember that after a preposition there is a noun phrase or an object pronoun. Watch this:

He cleans up the kitchen --> The kitchen is cleaned up (by him).
I broke the window glass --> The window glass was broken (by me).

◘ They is by itself an instance of what we call 'forbidden' agent. We cannot mention the agent when the doer of the action is unknown, unimportant or obvious, or is someone/somebody, they or people. 
Someone stole my bike yesterday --> My bike was stolen yesterday.  [unknown doer] 
They paint graffity on the school walls --> Graffity is painted on the school walls.  [unimportant doer] 
The police arrested the criminal last week --> The criminal was arrested last week. [obvious doer] 
People speak English in South Africa --> English is spoken in South Africa. [obvious doer]

◘ 'Obligatory' refers to the speaker's necessity to mention the agent. Often, celebrities or important people in history are obligatory in the passive sentence.
Shakespeare wrote 'Romeo and Juliet' --> 'Romeo and Juliet' was written by Shakespeare.
Hitler killed thousands of Jews --> Thousands of Jews were killed by Hitler. 
Bell invented the telephone --> The telephone was invented by Bell.
Rajoy enacts the educational reform bill --> The educational reform bill is enacted by Rajoy.

 


¡Hola!

Hasta ahora hemos hablado de la voz activa donde enfocamos la acción del verbo en el sujeto. Pero cuando queremos dar más importancia a la acción y no a quien la ha hecho, utilizamos la voz pasiva. Las posibilidades de transformación de una oración activa a pasiva dependen de la transitividad de dicha oración: sólo las oraciones transitivas (las que llevan complemento directo) pueden ponerse en pasiva, ya que es el complemento directo de la oración activa el que se convierte en el sujeto de la oración pasiva.  Por otro lado, el sujeto activo va a ser el complemento agente de la pasiva, que en inglés va introducido por la preposición by. El cambio en el verbo se hace por medio del verbo to be en el tiempo que esté el verbo activo seguido del participio de perfecto del mismo verbo. Mira las siguientes estructuras y ejemplos:

Activa:  Subj + Vb + Obj          Peter washes the car (Pedro lava el coche)
Pasiva:  Subj + Vb + Ag           The car is washed by Peter (el coche es lavado por Pedro)


Tipos de Pasiva
El primer tipo tiene el complemento directo en la activa como sujeto de la pasiva (especialmente en construcciones monotransitivas):

John saw us in the park last Friday --> We were seen (by John) in the park last Friday
Somebody killed the dog --> The dog was killed 
 
En el otro tipo de construcciones pasivas el complemento indirecto activo es que se convierte en sujeto pasivo (estructuras ditransitivas, es decir, oraciones con complemento directo e indirecto):
The teacher told Sarah her exam marks --> Sarah was told her exam marks
The Queen gave Beckham a gold medal --> Beckham was given a gold medal by the Queen

Observa que en las estructura de doble complemento objeto, el complemento directo de la activa se puede usar como sujeto en la pasiva, aunque lo más común y lo que se prefiere es usar el indirecto como sujeto.
A gold medal was given to Beckham by the Queen.

En los cursos venideros estudiareis otro tipo de pasivas, las impersonales.



Elección del Complemento Agente
El complemento agente de una oración pasiva puede ser opcional, prohibido u obligatorio.

◘ 'Opcional' quiere decir que depende de la voluntad del hablante mencionar el realizador de la acción o simplemente no mencionarlo. Los complementos agentes opcionales suelen referirse a gente normal y a los pronombre personales que no sean 'they'.  
The children wrote letters --> Letters were written (by the children).
Samuel makes mistakes  --> Mistakes are made (by Samuel). 

The focus here is on the action; if I do not want to blame anyone, I do not mention the agent, but if I want to refer to who makes the mistakes, for example, then I do mention the agent. You see, it depends on me. Remember that after a preposition there is a noun phrase or an object pronoun. Watch this:

He cleans up the kitchen --> The kitchen is cleaned up (by him).
I broke the window glass --> The window glass was broken (by me).

◘ They es por sí un ejemplo de lo que llamamos agente 'prohibido'. No podremos mencionar el complemento agente cuando el que realiza la acción sea desconocido, no importante u obvio, o sea 'someone', 'somebody', 'they' o 'people'.  
Someone stole my bike yesterday --> My bike was stolen yesterday.  [agente desconocido] 
They paint graffity on the school walls --> Graffity is painted on the school walls.  [agente desconocido] 
The police arrested the criminal last week --> The criminal was arrested last week. [agente obvio] 
People speak English in South Africa --> English is spoken in South Africa. [agente obvio]

◘ 'Obligatorio' se refiere a la necesidad que tiene el hablante de mencionar el agente. A menudo, los famosos o las personas importantes en la historia son obligatorias en la oración pasiva. 
Shakespeare wrote 'Romeo and Juliet' --> 'Romeo and Juliet' was written by Shakespeare.
Hitler killed thousands of Jews --> Thousands of Jews were killed by Hitler. 
Bell invented the telephone --> The telephone was invented by Bell.
Rajoy enacts the educational reform bill --> The educational reform bill is enacted by Rajoy. 


For practice: Exercise1, Exercise2, Exercise3, Exercise4.