9.10.2 Non-defining relative clauses

In the sentence:

Einstein, who was born in Switzerland, lived for many years in the United States.
(Einstein, qui va néixer a Suïssa, va viure molts anys als Estats Units.)

The basic sentence is:

Einstein lived for many years in the United States.
(Einstein va viure molts anys als Estats Units.)

"Who was born in Switzerland" gives us more information about Einstein, but it does not specify which Einstein we are talking about.

Similarly, in the sentence:

London, which lies on the River Thames, is an important port.
(Londres, que està situada sobre el riu Tàmesi, és un port important.)

The basic sentence is:

London is an important port.
(Londres és un port important.)

"Which lies on the River Thames" gives more information about London, but it does not specify which London we are talking about.

The information in these relative clauses is extra and not essential; these clauses are therefore separated from the main sentence by commas.

There are different relative words for different situations:

	Subject of the verb	Object of the verb or preposition	Possessive
Refers to a person	1 who	2 who, whom	5 whose
Refers to a thing	3 which	4 which

Examples of 1 (relative clause in blue; relative word in bold):

Nicole Kidman, who was born in Hawaii, has dual nationality.
(Nicole Kidman, la qual va néixer a Hawaii, té doble nationalitat.)

The King invited Charles Darwin, who had just returned from the Galapagos Islands.
(El Rei va convidar Charles Darwin, el qual acabava de tornar de les illes Galápagos.)

Examples of 2 (relative clause in blue; relative word in bold):

Nicole Kidman, who(m) everyone recognised, arrived in a Rolls Royce.
(Nicole Kidman, que tothom reconeixia, va arribar en un Rolls-Royce.)

The Times had an article about Charles Darwin, who(m) the King had recently invited to the Palace.
(The Times tenia un article sobre Charles Darwin, que el Rei havia rebut recentment al Palau.)

Examples of 3 (relative clause in blue; relative word in bold):

Titanic, which won 9 Oscars, made enormous profits.
(Titanic, que va guanyar 9 Oscar, va produir enormes beneficis.)

We stayed in the Ritz Hotel, which is in the middle of the town.
(Vam viure a l'Hotel Ritz, el qual és al centre del poble.)

Examples of 4 (relative clause in blue; relative word in bold):

Corsica, which we visited last year, is very mountainous.
(Còrsega, que vam visitar l'any passat, és molt muntanyosa.)

My grandmother left me her house, which I later sold.
(La meva àvia em va deixar casa seva, la qual vaig vendre més tard.)

Examples of 5 (relative clause in blue; relative word in bold):

Elton John, whose real name is Reginald Dwight, was born in London.
(Elton John, el nom autèntic del qual és Reginald Dwight, va néixer a Londres.)

The programme was about The Beatles, whose songs used to be very popular.
(El programa era sobre els Beatles, les cançons dels quals abans eren molt populars.)

If a non-defining relative clause has a preposition, it goes with the relative whom or which, e.g.:

Buñuel, with whom Dalí had made a film, later became a great director.
(Buñuel, amb el qual Dalí havia fet una pel·lícula, després es va convertir en un gran director.)

I read Augustine's Confessions, in which he discusses his early life.
(Vaig llegir les Confessions de sant Augustí, en les quals tracta de la seva joventut.)

There are also non-defining relative clauses with where, e.g.:

We visited Highgate Cemetery, where we saw Marx's grave.
(Vam visitar el cementiri de Highgate, on vam veure la tomba de Marx.)