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Taka Posted 15 years ago
Grammar

Relative pronoun

Days ago I overheard someone saying that when we have 'possessive case+noun', it's impossible to modify the noun with the restrictive relative pronoun.

Is it really true?
  

Top answer

Hi, Do you mean this? eg Tom has several cars. This is Tom's car that is red.

— Clive

  • Hi, Do you mean this?
  • eg Tom has several cars.
  • This is Tom's car that is red.
  • That one over there is Tom's car that is green.
  • Seems OK to me.
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11 Answers
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Hi,

Do you mean this?

eg

Tom has several cars.

This is Tom's car that is red.

That one over there is Tom's car that is green.
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Yes, that kind.

So this one is also OK, right?

Your friends who give honest advice to you are very important.
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Good! Just as I thought.

Thanks, Clive!
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Hi Taka,

I don't rule out the usage, but I also don't think it's terribly common.

In addition, it seems to me there would have to be a specific reason for doing this sort of thing. Clive's examples illustrate the reason very well. If I heard only the sentence "This is Tom's car that is red", I would automatically assume that (a) Tom has more than one car, and (b) this is
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TakaDays ago I overheard someone saying that when we have 'possessive case+noun', it's impossible to modify the noun with the restrictive relative pronoun.

Is it really true?
It's probably not impossible, but there may be restrictions.

If a combination of a possessive and its noun refers to something unique, I don't think you can have a restr
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Right. So about the example of friends I've given, there are many kinds of friends of yours, but those who give honest advice to you are important. Therefore, the restrictive usage 'your friends who give honest advice...' is perfectly natural, isn't it?
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Takaperfectly natural
Let's not get carried away. Emotion: smile 'acceptable' is a good enough description
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OK. And if the writer believes that generally your friends give honest advice to you, then the non-restrictive relative pronoun is likely, as 'Your friends, who give honest advice to you, are important', right?
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