Internal Relative Clause

Understanding Internal Relative Clauses

An internal relative clause, also known as a center-embedded relative clause, is a grammatical construction where the head noun that the relative clause modifies is itself part of the relative clause. This creates a nested structure that can sometimes be challenging to parse.

Key Concepts

• Head Noun Location: The noun being modified appears inside the relative clause.
• Complexity: Can lead to processing difficulties due to deep embedding.
• Structure: Often involves a relative pronoun followed by a subject-verb-object structure where the object is the head noun.

Deep Dive into Structure

Consider the sentence: “The book that John read is on the table.” Here, “that John read” is a standard relative clause modifying “The book.” An internal relative clause would look like this:

“The book which the critics praised won an award.”

In this example:

• The relative pronoun is “which.”
• The subject is implied or absent.
• The verb is “praised.”
• The direct object is “the critics,” but the noun being modified is “the book,” which is the subject of the relative clause. Wait, no, that’s not right. The noun being modified is “the book” and it is the object of the verb “praised.” This is where the confusion lies. The phrase “the critics praised” is the relative clause, and it modifies “the book.” However, the head noun “the book” is the direct object of the verb “praised” within the relative clause. This is the defining characteristic of an internal relative clause.

Applications and Examples

Internal relative clauses, while less common than external ones, appear in various linguistic contexts:

• “The idea that we discussed is important.” (Here, “that we discussed” modifies “The idea,” and “the idea” is the object of “discussed.”)
• “The man whom she met was very friendly.” (Here, “whom she met” modifies “The man,” and “man” is the object of “met.”)

Challenges and Misconceptions

The primary challenge is syntactic ambiguity and processing load. People often misinterpret the relationships between sentence elements. A common misconception is that the head noun must always precede the relative clause.

Frequently Asked Questions

1. What distinguishes an internal relative clause? The head noun is an argument (subject or object) within the relative clause itself.
2. Are they grammatically incorrect? No, they are grammatically valid but can be harder to process.
3. Can you give a simple example? “The car that I bought is red.” Here, “car” is the object of “bought.”