clauses-VOA's English Doctor

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We have two kinds of clauses -- independent and dependent.

An INDEPENDENT CLAUSE is a main clause. It can be a sentence by itself.
Example: WE WANT AN APARTMENT.

A DEPENDENT CLAUSE can't be a sentence by itself. It must be connected to an independent clause.
Example: We want an apartment THAT'S CLOSE TO OUR SCHOOL.

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We're going to start with adjective clauses.

Adjectives give more information about nouns.

Example:
My neighbor is a FRIENDLY man.

"Friendly" gives more information/describes "man".

Let's practice using a clause. We have two pieces of information about the subject (He).

MY NEIGHBOR (He) is a friendly man.
MY NEIGHBOR (He) often brings me gifts.

When we're talking about the subject, we can use a "who" clause.

My neighbor, WHO IS A FRIENDLY MAN, brings me gifts.
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Now, some of you want to know how to use "whom". Before we talk about that, let's discuss how common "whom" is.

It's used in English, but it's not as common as "who". Language changes. How does language change? We, the speakers, change it. "Whom" is fairly formal, so it would be used more in writing than speaking.

Now, if we want to use "whom", what are the rules?

We said that "who" was used for talking about the subject.

MY NEIGHBOR (He) is a friendly man.
MY NEIGHBOR (He) often brings me gifts.

When we're talking about the subject, we can use a "who" clause.

My neighbor, WHO IS A FRIENDLY MAN, brings me gifts.

Let's talk about the object.

The woman gave me some information.
I called HER.

When we're talking about the object (him, her, them, etc.), we can use "whom".

The woman, WHOM I CALLED, gave me some information.

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Let's make clauses with these sentences to practice.

1.
The people were very nice. I met THEM at a party.

2.
Pedro's neighbors have two cars. THEY live next to Pedro.

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Let's look at both sentences.

1. The people were very nice. I met THEM at a party.

"Them" is an object. "Whom" is used with objects.
The people, whom I met at a party, were very nice.

On a written test, "whom" is correct. In conversation, either "who" or "whom" is correct.

2. Pedro's neighbors have two cars. THEY live next to Pedro.
"They" is a subject. "Who" is used with subjects.

Pedro's neighbors, who have two cars, live next to Pedro.
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Let's make this a little easier.

Here are the two pieces of information.

I talked to the women. THEY walked into my office.

Do we use "who" or "whom"? Why?
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Let's review subject words -- I, you, he, she, we, they.
Object words -- me, you, him, her, our, them

When we're looking for the subject or object, we should focus on the additional information -- the second sentence.
I talked to the women. THEY walked into my office. (We don't see "me, you, him, her, our, them" in the second sentence. We see "they", which is a subject.)

It should be -- I talked to the women who walked into my office

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Let's review:

who --- subject (I, you, he, she, we, they)
whom -- object (me, you, him, her, our, them)

Let's try another example.

I talked to the WOMEN. I met THEM in my office.

Should we use "who" or "whom"? Why
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When you use "whom", you need to change the word order in the second sentence.

I talked to the women, WHOM I MET in my office. (change "I met them" to "whom I met")

Here's another sentence.

The children were very young. THEY played in the park.

Look at the information in the second sentence. Should we use "who" or "whom"? Why? Write the new sentence.
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Good. Because these are adjective clauses, we want them close to the noun.

It should be -- The children WHO PLAYED IN THE PARK were very young.
("who played in the park" tells more about "children")

Let's try two more.

1. THE CHILDREN played in the park. 2. I saw THE CHILDREN.

Answer these questions:
In Sentence 2, are "the children" a subject or object?
Should you use "who" or "whom"?
Please write the new sentence. (Remember to keep the adjective clause -- with "who" or "whom" --next to the noun.)
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Okay. Many of you got it.

There are two correct answers.

1. The children whom I saw played in the park.
2. I saw the children who played in the park.

I gave this lesson today because many people have asked about "who" and "whom". If it's a little confusing, don't worry too much. As I said, "who" is used more often in conversation than "whom".

For a written test, though, you do need to know the difference, so you may want to read this lesson again. If you have any questions, please ask me tomorrow.

The next live English lesson will be at 13:00 GMT.

Take good care, everyone.

TTYL (Talk to you later),
VOA's English Doctor