What are the differences in relative clauses in informal and formal situations?
It’s another question from Cristina
In Informal situations we would use that rather than which or who:
The man that spoke to me was very worried
rather than
The man who spoke to me was very worried
or we would omit the relative clause completely:
The jacket Fred usually wears is a tennis blazer.
rather than
The jacket that Fred usually wears is a tennis blazer.
(this is only possible if the verb has a subject)
using “whom” is more formal than who
in informal spoken English we normally put the preposition at the end of the relative clause:
- … the restaurant which we go to. or
- … the letter that I was looking for.
- … a subject which I know very little about.
- … the person who I obtained the information from.
in formal English we can say:
- Was that the restaurant to which we normally go? or
- Electronics is a subject about which I know very little. or
- John is the person from whom I obtained the information.
What relative pronouns can we use? who, whom, where, which …
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