定语从句在句中做定语,修饰名词或代词,被修饰的词即“先行词”。定语从句位于先行词之后,由“关系词”(关系代词或关系副词)引出。关系代词有:who, whom, whose, that, which等。关系副词有:when, where, why等。
关系代词只能用that的地方:1. 先行词既有人又有物
例 The person and the dog (that) we met the other day were unforgettable.
2. 先行词为something, everything, anything, nothing, none; all, some, any等不定代词,或先行词前有some, every, any, no, all, much, few, little(少量的)等修饰时
例 All that glitters is not gold.
例 There is something (that) I need to tell you.
例 I have many books. Take all/some/any that might be helpful to you.
3. 先行词前有序数词或形容词最高级修饰时
例 The first thing that came to mind is his dignity.
例 The best thing that ever happened to me happened yesterday.
只用which的地方:1. 非限制性定语从句(即逗号后面)
例 The house, which we bought last month, is very nice.
2. 介词之后
例 We depend on the land from which we get our food. = We depend on the land (that/which) we get our food from.