The Differences in Relative Pronoun Usage Between the English and Spanish Languages: A Proposal

The purpose of the relative pronoun is to introduce to the relative clause of a sentence (Huddleston and Pullum 183). A relative clause can be defined as a type of a dependent clause that modifies the main clause (Huddleston and Pullum 183; Purdue University). In short, the relative clause the portion of the sentence that is not always necessary needed in order for the sentence to be complete, but always adds addition information that enhances the idea, noun, or concept present. For example, within the sentence “They refused the dessert that your niece had made”, the addition of “…that your niece had made” is not necessary for the sentence to make sense, but does provide supplementary information used to enrich the main clause, the main part of the sentence. However, within the sentence “The house that Seamus had built”, the relative clause “that Seamus had built” is necessary to prevent sentence fragmentation. Therefore, it is the role of the relative pronoun is to combine the main clause with the relative clause when modifying the antecedent, which is the head noun of the relative clause.

The most common relative clauses present in the English language are who, whoever, whose, that, and which (Purdue University). The type of modification made to the main clause determines the relative pronoun used to introduce the relative clause (Purdue University). There are two types of relative clauses: the restrictive relative clause and the non-restrictive relative clause (Purdue University). The essential difference between the restrictive relative clause and the non-restrictive relative clause is the relative pronouns used to introduce restrictive relative clauses are not separated from the main clause by a comma because the information provided in the relative clause is essential for the reader to understand the sentence’s meaning correctly (Purdue University).

However, the guidelines for relative pronoun usage are a bit foggier in