一、定语从句的概念:在复合句中,修饰某一名词或代词的从句叫定语从句。

　　例如: 1) The man who lives next to us is a fool.
　　2) You must buy me the house which is near Xiangshan.
　　上面两句中的the man和the house是定语从句所修饰的词,叫先行词,定语从句放在先行词的后面。

　　二、关系词(连接词)

　　1.关系代词引导的定语从句
　　引导定语从句的关系词有关系代词:that, which, who (宾格whom, 所有格whose) 和关系副词where, when, why。关系词放在先行词和定语从句之间,起连接作用,同时还做定语从句的一个成分。
　　2.关于that, which的用法注意点
　　1)只能用that,不用which作为定语从句关系代词的情况
　　a)不定代词,如anything, nothing, the one, all, much, few, any, little等作先行词
　　There is nothing that I can do.
　　I mean the one that was bought yesterday.
　　b)先行词有the only, the very, the same, the last修饰
　　This is the very book that I want to find.
　　The last place that I visited was the hospital.
　　c)先行词为序数词、数词、形容词最高级时
　　This is the first composition that he has written in English.
　　d)先行词既有人,又有物时
　　He talked about the teachers and schools that he had visited.
　　2)不用that, 只用which的情况
　　a)引导非限定性定语从句时which
　　The tree, which is four hundred years old, is very famous here.
　　b)介词后用which
　　We depend on the land from which we get our food.

　　三、关系副词引导的定语从句

　　关系副词可代替的先行词是时间、地点或理由的名词,在从句中作状语。
　　1)先行词是表示地点名词时(country, school, room…),而关系词代替先行词在定语从句中充当地点状语,一般用where引导定语从句。也可以用介词+which的结构。值得注意的是which前的介词选择是根据先行词与介词的搭配关系而定。
　　Beijing is the place in which (=where) I was born.
　　He wants to find the place in which (=where) he lived forty years ago.
　　2)先行词是表示时间名词时(year, month, day, night…),而关系词代替先行词在定语
　　从句中充当时间状语,一般用when引导定语从句。也可以用介词+which的结构。值得注意的是when前的介词选择是根据先行词与介词的搭配关系而定。
　　His father died that year in which (=when) he was born.
　　I cannot forget the first day on which (=when) my family moved into the city.
　　3)先行词是the reason,而关系词代替先行词在定语从句中充当原因状语,一般用why引导定语从句。也可以用for + which的结构。
　　Is this the reason for which (why) he refused our offer?
　　但是这里要指出的是,如果介词和Which搭配在一起并不表示以上三种意思,则我们只能保留介词+Which的形式。如 I know English in which I wrote the love letter.

　　四、判断关系代词与关系副词

　　方法一: 用关系代词,还是关系副词完全取决于从句中的谓语动词。及物动词后面无宾语,就必须要求用关系代词;而不及物动词则要求用关系副词。
　　判断改错:
　　 This is the mountain village where I visited last year.
　　 This is the mountain village which I visited last year.
　　 I will never forget the days when I spent in the countryside.
　　 I'll never forget the days which I spent in the countryside.
　　方法二: 准确判断先行词在定语从句中的成分(主、谓、宾、定、状),也能正确选择出关系代词/关系副词。
　　1)This is the museum ___ you visited a few days age
　　A. where B. that  C. on which  D. the one
　　2)This is the museum ____ the exhibition was held.
　　A. where B. that  C. on which D. the one
　　关系词的选择依据在从句中所做的成分,先行词在从句中做主、定、宾语时,选择关系代词(who, whom,that, which, whose); 先行词在从句中做状语时,应选择关系副词 (where 地点状语,when 时间状语,why 原因状语)。

　　五、限定性从句和非限定性从句

　　1)定语从句有限制性和非限制性两种。限制性定语从句是先行词不可缺少的部分,去掉它主句意思往往不明确;非限制性定语从句是先行词的附加说明,去掉了也不会影响主句的意思,它与主句之间通常用逗号分开。例如:
　　Her sister who is a nurse stands there.(限制性)
　　Her sister, who is a nurse, stands there. (非限制性)
　　All the Greeks who are philosophers are very clever. (限制性)
　　All the Greeks, who are philosophers, are very clever. (非限制性)
　　2) 非限制性定语从句还能将整个主句作为先行词, 对其进行修饰, 这时从句谓语动词要用第三人称单数。例如:The traffic of Beijing is quite bad, which is known to everyone.

　　六、同位语从句(Appositive Clause)

　　在复合句中充当同位语的名词性从句称为同位语从句。同位语从句是名词性从句(主语从句、表语从句、宾语从句、同位语从句)中的主要从句之一。
　　(一)同位语从句在句中的位置
　　1. 一般情况下同位语从句跟在某些名词(如answer, appeal, belief, conclusion, decision, discovery, proposal, question, remark, reply, report, saying, statement, thought, news, idea, fact, promise, hope, message, understanding, truth等)的后面,用以说明该名词所表达的具体内容。例如:
　　<1> The news that our women volleyball team had won the championship encouraged us all greatly.
　　<2> I‘ve come from Mr. Wang with a message that he won’t be able to see you this afternoon.
　　2. 有时同位语从句可以不紧跟在它所说明的名词后,而被别的词语隔开,在语法上叫做分隔式同位语从句。例如:
　　The thought came to her that maybe she had left the door open when she left home.
　　The story goes that he failed in the College Entrance Examinations again.
　　(二)同位语从句前名词的数
　　同位语从句前的名词通常用单数形式,并且往往带有限定词(word除外)加以修饰。例如:
　　Where did you get the idea that I could not come?
　　Give me your promise that you will come to our party this evening.
　　Word came that China launched its first manned spaceship on October 15, 2003.
　　(三)同位语从句连接词的选用
　　1. 在英语中,引导同位语从句的词通常有连词(that, who, whether),连接副词(how, when, where)等。
　　They were all very much worried over the fact that you were sick.
　　The question who should do the work requires consideration.
　　We haven’t yet settled the question where we are going to spend our summer vacation.
　　2. 表示“是否”的意思时只能用whether,不能用if。这一点与主语从句相似。例如:
　　The question whether he can finish the work within two days remains unknown.
　　3. 在名词doubt“怀疑”后的同位语从句用whether连接;在no doubt“不怀疑”之后的同位语从句用that连接。例如:
　　We have some doubt whether they can complete the task on time.
　　There is no doubt that Zhang Wei will keep his promise.
　　(四)同位语从句与定语从句的用法区别
　　(1)词类不同
　　同位语从句的名词只能是前面提到的几个有限的、有一定内涵的名词;而定语从句的先行词可以是名词、代词、主句的一部分或是整个主句。
　　(2)性质不同
　　定语从句是从句对其先行词的修饰或限制,属于形容词性从句的范畴;而同位语从句是从句对其前名词的解释,该名词与同位语从句的关系可以用“主系表”来表达。例如:
　　We have all heard the news that our team has won.
　　名词与其后的同位语从句可以表达为:
　　The news is that our team has won.
　　(3)引导词不完全相同。
　　A. 有些引导词如:how, whether可以引导同位语从句,但不能引导定语从句。what不可以引导定语从句,但却可以引导同位语从句。例如:
　　I have no idea what has happened to him.
　　B. 引导词that引导定语从句时,在从句中一般作主语或宾语,(指物时还可用which代替),如果在从句中作宾语常可以省略。that在同位语从句中虽不充当任何句子成份,但不能省略,也不能用which来代替。例如:
　　<1>The order that we should throw away our luggage was received yesterday.
　　<2>The order(that)we received yesterday was that we should throw away our luggage.
　　通过比较可知:第<1>句中的划线部分是对名词order的具体解释,that只起到连接作用,但不能省;第<2>句中的划线部分是名词order的修饰语,that代指the order,在从句中充当宾语,因而在句中可以省略。

　　七、定语从句的省略

　　(1) 关系代词充当从句宾语
　　我们前面说到连接词在定语从句中充当一个成分,有可能是主语、有可能是宾语,我相信大家肯定还记得,这里我们要告诉大家,当这些连接词充当的是宾语时,可以省略。例如:
　　1. The book (that/which) we bought last year is now very popular.
　　2. We can see the boys (who/whom/that) the teacher is talking with are quite happy.
　　上述第一句的book是先行词,作后面的定语从句中bought的宾语,故引导词that/which可以省略,第二句的先行词students作 with的宾语,故引导词who/that/whom也都可以省略,
　　(2) 关系代词充当从句主语
　　当关系代词充当从句主语时,也可以省略,但是省略后的从句要发生形式的变化,原从句若为主动语态,后面的动词结构要变成分词ing形式,原从句若为被动语态,后面的动词结构直接为过去动词结构。这种结构在英语语法中称为分词作定语。
　　The novel which was given by the professor mainly discusses the development of Chinese economy.
　　The novel given by the professor mainly discusses the development of Chinese economy.
　　The novel which mainly discusses the development of Chinese economy was given by the professor.
　　The novel mainly discussing the development of Chinese economy was given by the professor.
　　SP: (1) why的先行词reason或可用that 指代的名词也是定语从句的原因状语时,例如:
　　1. That is the reason (for which/why) you dislike it.
　　2. I wonder the reason (why/for which) he changed his mind.
　　(2) 表示方式的先行词way,其后的关系代词可用that,也可省略,例如:
　　1. Everyone does not like the way (that) he talks.
　　2. Do you know the way (that) the teacher treated his students.