{"id":1786,"date":"2015-05-20T09:00:27","date_gmt":"2015-05-20T16:00:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/toefl\/?p=1786"},"modified":"2015-05-15T15:07:55","modified_gmt":"2015-05-15T22:07:55","slug":"introduction-to-relativizers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/toefl\/introduction-to-relativizers\/","title":{"rendered":"Introduction to Relativizers"},"content":{"rendered":"

Relativizers<\/em> are special words in English that are used to give a reader more information about a noun. The most common English relativizers are who, whom, that, which, whose, where and when<\/em>. Relativizers add information to nouns in two specific ways. Below, I\u2019ll explain the two uses of this kind of word, with examples.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The Two Uses of Relativizers:<\/h2>\n

Use 1: <\/em><\/strong>Relativizers may add specific information that helps to identify a noun. <\/em><\/p>\n

Examples:<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

1) Roberta, who is a third year university student, is sitting at that table. (In this sentence, the relativizer \u201cwho\u201d is used to give additional information that identifies the subject of the sentence.)<\/em><\/p>\n

2) All security matters were handled by the director of the palace guard, in whom the king placed great trust. (Here, the relativizer \u201cwhom\u201d is used to give extra information about the director of the palace guard, helping people understand his relationship with the king.)<\/em><\/p>\n

3) The tree, which was very close to the house, was struck by lightning. (Here, the relativizer \u201cwhich\u201d is used to add extra descriptive information about the subject of the sentence, a tree.)<\/em><\/p>\n

4) Yesterday, when it was still raining, I stayed in my house. (\u201cWhen\u201d is used to add more information to \u201cyesterday,\u201d the time period the sentence takes place in.)<\/em><\/p>\n

5) My biology teacher, whose husband is a doctor, knows a lot about human biology. (\u201cWhose\u201d adds information about my biology teacher.)<\/em><\/p>\n

6) Quebec, where most of the world\u2019s maple syrup comes from, is beautiful in the summer. (\u201cWhere\u201d is used to add an extra fact about the Canadian province of Quebec.)<\/em><\/p>\n

Use 2: <\/em><\/strong>Relativizers may also limit nouns into specific categories. <\/em><\/p>\n

Examples:<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

1) Roger is the student who is giving a presentation in this class today. (The relativizer \u201cwho\u201d limits the subject \u201cRoger\u201d into the category of students giving a presentation in this class today. This is a very narrow category with just one person in it.)<\/em><\/p>\n

2) That is one of the women with whom I spoke yesterday. (Here, the relativizer \u201cwhom\u201d limits the noun \u201cwoman,\u201d showing that the woman is part of a group of women I spoke with yesterday.)<\/em><\/p>\n

3) Here is a hospital in which one of America\u2019s presidents was born. (The relativizer \u201cwhich\u201d is used to limit the noun \u201chospital\u201d to the category of hospital that a U.S. president was born in.)<\/em><\/p>\n

4) Here is a hospital that one of America\u2019s president\u2019s was born in. (\u201cThat\u201d is used to limit \u201chospital\u201d to the category of houses where U.S. presidents were born. Notice that examples 3 and 4 have the same meaning.)<\/em><\/p>\n

5) That\u2019s the woman whose house I bought. (\u201cWhose\u201d limits \u201cthe woman\u201d to the category of women that I purchased a house from.)<\/em><\/p>\n

6) This is a place where live music often plays. (\u201cWhere\u201d limits \u201ca place\u201d to the group of places that have live music playing frequently.\u201d)<\/em><\/p>\n

7) The Cambrian Age was a time when dinosaurs ruled the earth. (\u201cWhen\u201d is used to limit the Cambrian Age to a category of times when dinosaurs dominated our planet.)<\/em><\/p>\n

This gives you a basic idea of how relativizers are used. You can used these rules to improve your TOEFL writing. This can also help you understand the relativizers in TOEFL reading passages better. In my next post on this subject, I\u2019ll give you a closer look at four relativizers students often find challenging: that, which, who, and whom<\/em>.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Relativizers are special words in English that are used to give a reader more information about a noun. The most common English relativizers are who, whom, that, which, whose, where and when. Relativizers add information to nouns in two specific ways. Below, I\u2019ll explain the two uses of this kind of word, with examples.   […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":80,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13603],"tags":[],"ppma_author":[13630],"class_list":["post-1786","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-grammar"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nIntroduction to Relativizers - Magoosh Blog \u2013 TOEFL\u00ae\ufe0f Test<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/toefl\/introduction-to-relativizers\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Introduction to Relativizers\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Relativizers are special words in English that are used to give a reader more information about a noun. 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Additionally, he's helped students with TOEIC, PET, FCE, BULATS, Eiken, SAT, ACT, GRE, and GMAT. David has a BS and MA from the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire and an MA from the University of Wisconsin-River Falls.","sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/MagooshEnglishLearning","https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/david-recine\/","https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/channel\/UCra3KQoJlOP7RYwaCyH2qew"],"knowsAbout":["TOEFL","IELTS","TOEIC","PET","FCE","BULATS","Eiken","SAT","ACT","GRE","GMAT"],"knowsLanguage":["English","Italian"],"jobTitle":"Content Creator","worksFor":"Magoosh","url":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/toefl\/author\/davidr\/"}]}},"authors":[{"term_id":13630,"user_id":80,"is_guest":0,"slug":"davidr","display_name":"David Recine","avatar_url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/b70c17ee6f3ef87dc4cc5dbdebda911d6dd30dfe15845e4b1d459a3e1b33ef98?s=96&d=mm&r=g","user_url":"","last_name":"Recine","first_name":"David","description":"David is a Test Prep Expert for Magoosh TOEFL and IELTS. Additionally, he's helped students with TOEIC, PET, FCE, BULATS, Eiken, SAT, ACT, GRE, and GMAT.\r\n\r\nDavid has a BS from the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire and an MA from the University of Wisconsin-River Falls. His work at Magoosh has been cited in<a href=\"https:\/\/scholar.google.com\/scholar?hl=en&as_sdt=0%2C50&q=Recine+magoosh&btnG=\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"> many scholarly articles<\/a>,<a href=\"https:\/\/minds.wisconsin.edu\/handle\/1793\/65479\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"> his Master's Thesis<\/a> is featured on the<a href=\"https:\/\/www.readingwithpictures.org\/2013\/09\/research-highlight-teaching-english-language-learners-with-comics\/\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"> Reading with Pictures<\/a> website, and he's presented at the<a href=\"https:\/\/www.witesol.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/11\/2014-WITESOL-Program-FINAL-10-28-14.pdf\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"> WITESOL (link to PDF)<\/a> and<a href=\"https:\/\/issuu.com\/interoff\/docs\/nafsaregionv_2014conference\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"> NAFSA<\/a> conferences. David has taught K-12 ESL in South Korea as well as undergraduate English and MBA-level business English at American universities. He has also trained English teachers in America, Italy, and Peru.\r\n\r\nCome join David and the Magoosh team on<a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/channel\/UCra3KQoJlOP7RYwaCyH2qew\"> Youtube<\/a>,<a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/MagooshEnglishLearning\"> Facebook<\/a>, and<a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/magooshenglish\/?hl=en\"> Instagram<\/a>, or connect with him via<a href=\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/david-recine\/\"> LinkedIn<\/a>!"}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/toefl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1786","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/toefl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/toefl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/toefl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/80"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/toefl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1786"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/toefl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1786\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/toefl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1786"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/toefl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1786"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/toefl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1786"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/toefl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ppma_author?post=1786"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}