We use:

• who and whom for people
• which for things
• that for people or things.

The relative pronoun is the subject/object of the relative clause, so we do not repeat the subject/object:

Marie Curie is the woman who she discovered radium.
(who is the subject of discovered, so we don't need she)

This is the house that Jack built it.
(that is the object of built, so we don't need it)

2.  We also use relative clauses to give more information about a person, thing or situation:

Lord Thompson, who is 76, has just retired.
We had fish and chips, which I always enjoy.

I met Rebecca in town yesterday, which was a nice surprise.

whose and whom

We use whose as the possessive form of who:

This is George, whose brother went to school with me.

Married

 

• Why do people get married? They do so because they are in search of life-long companionship, through which they can fill their life with love and happiness.

• However, in order to live a happy married life, it is essential to accept your spouse the way they are. Everyone has different beliefs, thinking patterns, opinions, and viewpoints. So it is natural that no two people think alike. Hence, we can say that marriage is a merger of two separate sets of beliefs and mindsets. Due to these unlike mindsets, a couple tends to differ in terms of the way they deal with different matters in life. These differences create conflict in marriage, thus resulting in an unhappy marriage.

• 
  
  EXAMPLES
  
  
  
  

• Let's get married as soon as we can.

• So why get married at all?

• They had been married almost five years, so... that meant the baby was conceived long before they met - about the time he and Tessa were going to get married.

• So why get married at all?

• You want to get married outside?

• 
  

• 
  

  
  

HOLIDAYS AND TRADITION

 

really enjoyed my holiday, but now it's time to get back to work.

The town has a festive holiday atmosphere.

She has just come back from a holiday in Crete, where Alex and I went last year.

°

°Fireworks have long been an American tradition on the Fourth of July.

°Do not be led by reports, or tradition, or hearsay.

°Mary has carried on the family tradition of giving away plants.

°In keeping with tradition, they always have turkey on Christmas Day.

Qualifications

 

The qualifications you need for an activity or task are the qualities and skills that you need to be able to do it.

Responsibility and reliability are necessary qualifications. 

°That time with him is my qualification to write this book.

An ability, quality, or attribute, esp one that fits a person to perform a particular job or task.

°he has no qualifications to be a teacher

 

PERFECT MODALS

 What is a “perfect modal”? 

This is a pretty advanced grammar topic, but I’ll try to use simple explanations today. Perfect modals are not actually “perfect,” but they are called that because they use a modal verb (in this case, could, should, might/may, must) followed by a perfect tense construction (“have” + past participle). Perfect modals are used to talk about past actions.

Must have

“Must have” is used to express a logical conclusion about something that occurred in the past. We are unsure of what exactly happened, but based on the evidence, we can come to some conclusion. As opposed to “might have” or “may have”, as we will see later, “must have” expresses more certainty.

Examples:

The lights are off. They must have gone out.

I never see John and Claire together anymore. They must have separated.

I know you love chocolate. It must have been difficult to say “no” to that piece of cake.

John never called you last night? He must have been working late.

Frank failed the exam. He must not have been paying attention in class.

May have/Might have

“May have” and “might have” are used to express possibility in the past. The use of these two modal perfects also express uncertainty.

Examples:

I think it may have worked but we gave up too soon.

They might have won if their star player hadn’t been injured.

I don’t know, it might have been different if you were there.

Can’t have

“Can’t have” is used in a similar manner to “must have”, but in the negative. We use “can’t have” when we are fairly certain that something didn’t happen or wasn’t true in the past.

Examples:

I know you love chocolate. It can’t have been easy to say “no” to that piece of cake.

Frank failed the exam. He can’t have been paying attention in class.

They had a lot of work to do and little time. They can’t have finished everything.

Could have

“Couldn’t have” can be used instead of “can’t have”.

Examples:

I know you love chocolate. It couldn’t have been easy to say “no” to that piece of cake.

Frank failed the exam. He couldn’t have been paying attention in class.

They had a lot of work to do and little time. They couldn’t have finished everything.

“Could have” is also used to express that something was possible in the past, but in fact did not happen.

Examples:

If it hadn’t stopped raining, the party could have been a disaster.

She could have run faster, but she wanted to save her energy.

We could have bought a new car, but we decided to use the money to go on vacation.

“Could have”, in the affirmative, is similar to “might have” or “may have”, in that it expresses possibility in the past.

Examples:

I think it could have worked, but we gave up too soon.

They could have won if their star player hadn’t been injured.

I don’t know, it could have been different if you were there.

Should have/Ought to have

“Should have” and “ought to have” are used when something didn’t happen but it would have been better if it had. In the negative, these modals indicate that something happened but it would have been better if it hadn’t.

Examples:

I told you, you should have studied more!

Ben ought to have gone to the doctor sooner. Now they say it will be a month before he is fully recovered.

We should have left earlier. Now we are going to be late.

I shouldn’t have eaten that last cookie.

She shouldn’t have been angry, it wasn’t your fault.

Would have

“Would have” is used to form the conditional in English. See the lesson on conditional sentences for more information.