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, que nació en Suiza, vivió muchos años en Estados Unidos.)

The basic sentence is:

Einstein lived for many years in the United States.
(Einstein vivió muchos años en Estados Unidos.)

"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 se encuentra sobre el río Támesis, es un puerto importante.)

The basic sentence is:

London is an important port.
(Londres es un puerto importante.)

"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, que nació en Hawai, tiene doble nacionalidad.)

The King invited Charles Darwin, who had just returned from the Galapagos Islands.
(El rey invitó a Charles Darwin, que acababa de regresar de las islas 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, a quien todo el mundo reconoció, llegó en Rolls-Royce.)

The Times had an article about Charles Darwin, who(m) the King had recently invited to the Palace.
(El Times tenía un artículo sobre Charles Darwin, a quien el rey había recibido recientemente en el palacio.)

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

Titanic, which won 9 Oscars, made enormous profits.
(Titanic, que ganó 9 Oscars, generó enormes beneficios.)

We stayed in the Ritz Hotel, which is in the middle of the town.
(Vivieron en el Hotel Ritz, que se encuentra en el centro del pueblo.)

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

Corsica, which we visited last year, is very mountainous.
(Córcega, que visitamos el año pasado, es muy montañosa.)

My grandmother left me her house, which I later sold.
(Mi abuela me dejó su casa, y más tarde la vendí.)

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, cuyo auténtico nombre es Reginald Dwight, nació en Londres.)

The programme was about The Beatles, whose songs used to be very popular.
(El programa era sobre los Beatles, cuyas canciones eran muy populares antes.)

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, con quien Dalí había realizado una película, se convirtió en un gran director.)

I read Augustine's Confessions, in which he discusses his early life.
(Leí Las confesiones de Augusto, en la que habla de su vida como joven.)

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

We visited Highgate Cemetery, where we saw Marx's grave.
(Visitamos el cementerio de Highgate, donde vimos la tumba de Marx.)