RELATIVE
CLAUSES
RELATIVE CLAUSES
• Relative clauses describe and provide information
about something or someone that we have
usually already specified.
– I like working with students who appreciate
what I do.
• We use relative clauses in order to identify things
or people and to distinguish them from other
similar things.
– Mancunians aren’t people who live in Manchester, they’re
people who were born there
USE
• We use relative clauses to give additional
information about something without
starting another sentence.
• By combining sentences with a relative
clause, your text becomes more fluent and
you can avoid repeating certain words.
RELATIVE CLAUSES
1. Subject and Object
Relative clauses give extra information about a noun
in the main clause. They can refer to this as subject or
object.
“That’s the woman who bought my car”
Subject
“That’s the flat that I was looking for”
Object
2. Combining sentences
Note how sentences are combined.
Subject :
“This is Sofia. She bought my car”
“Sofia is the person who bought my car”
Object :
“That is the flat. I was looking for it”
“That is the flat that I was looking for”
How to Form Relative Clauses ?
Imagine, a girl is talking to Tom.
You want to know who she is and ask a
friend whether he knows her.
>>You could say:
A girl is talking to Tom.
Do you know the girl?
A girl is talking to
Tom. Do you know
the girl?
That sounds rather complicated, doesn't
it?
>> It would be easier with a relative
clause: you put both pieces of
information into one sentence. Start
with the most important thing – you
want to know who the girl is.
Do you know the girl …
Do you know the
girl….?
As your friend cannot know which girl you
are talking about, you need to put in the
additional information – the girl is
talking to Tom.
>Use „the girl“ only in the first part of the
sentence,
> in the second part replace it with the
relative pronoun (for people, use the
relative pronoun “who”).
So the final sentence is:
Do you know the girl
who is talking to Tom?
Do you know the
girl who is talking
to Tom ?
Where do they come in
sentences?
• They usually come immediately after what
they qualify
– People who know different foreign languages
make better language teachers.
• When the relative pronoun is the subject of the relative
clause the word order is subject+verb+object
– He showed me the rocks which he had collected.
• When the relative pronoun is the object the word order
is object+subject+verb
– The bus came at last, which was an enormous
relief.
TYPES
• Defining relative clauses give important
information to identify the person or thing we
are talking about. We don’t use a comma.
– People who live in glass houses shouldn’t throw
stones.
• Non-defining relative clauses give additional
information about the person or thing we are
talking about. We use a comma.
– Prof. Johnson, who I have long admired, is coming
to visit us next week.
DEFINING CLAUSES
• The relative pronoun can be omitted (ø) when
it is the object of the clause:
• The mouse that the elephant loved was very
beautiful.
OR
• The mouse the elephant loved was very
beautiful.
• Both of these sentences are correct, though
the second one is more common in spoken
English.
RELATIVE PRONOUNS IN
DEFINING CLAUSES
subject object
people who / that whom / that /ø
things which / that which / that / ø
WHO
• subject or object pronoun for people
1. Subject: I told you about the woman who lives next door.
2. Object: (Pronoun Omission)
Mary is the girl (who/whom) we met at the party.
WHICH
• subject or object pronoun for animals
and things
1. Subject: Do you see the cat which is lying on the roof?
2. Object: (Pronoun Omission) :Have you seen the book
(which ) I put on this table?
THAT
• subject or object pronoun for people, animals and things in
defining relative clauses (who or which are also possible)
1. Subject: I don’t like the table that /which stands in the
kitchen.
2. Object: (Pronoun Omission):This is the sweater (that/
which) I bought on Saturday.
WHOSE
• possession for people, animals, and
things. WHOSE cannot be omitted.
Do you know the girl whose mother is a nurse?
WHOM
• object pronoun for people BUT in
defining relative clauses we colloquially
prefer who)
Pronoun omission : I was invited by the professor (whom
/who/that) I met at the conference.
RELATIVE PRONOUNS & ADVERBS
IN DEFINING
Person Thing Place Time Reason
Subject who/that which/that
Object who/whom which/that/ where when why
/that/ø ø
Possessi whose whose
ve
WHEN
• Meaning: in/on which
• Use: refers to a time expression
(Pronoun omission): Is there a time (when) we can meet?
WHERE
• Meaning: in/at which
• Use: refers to place
(Pronoun omission )+ preposition:
The hotel where we stay was very small.
The hotel we stay at was very small
WHY
• Meaning: for which
• Use: refers to a reason
(Pronoun omission): Is there a reason (why/ that) you want to leave
now?
NON- DEFINING
Non-defining clauses add extra information,
separated by commas in writing, and
intonation in speaking.
“ Tom’s mother, who is 78, goes swimming every
day”
Non-defining pronouns & adverbs
CANNOT be OMITTED
Person Thing Place Time
Subject who which
Object who/whom Which where when
Possessi whose whose
ve
NON-DEFINING EXAMPLES
• WHO: Last weekend I met Sue, who told me she was going on
holiday soo.
• WHOM/ WHO (as object): Sarah Ros, whom /who you met in
Madrid last week, will be at the party.
• WHICH: Sue´s house, which is in the centre of the town, is
over 1oo years old.
• WHOSE: Tina Harris, whose brother is the actor Paul Harris, is
a good friend of mine.
• WHERE: We visited a town called Christchurch, where we had
lunch in an Italian restaurant.
• WHEN: We are going on holiday in September, when the
weather isn’t so hot
Prepositions + relative pronouns
• In formal style we usually put a preposition
before the relative pronoun and we use whom
instead of who.
– The office to which Graham took us was filled with
books
• In less formal style we usually put the
preposition at the end of the relative clause.
– The office that Graham took us to was filled with
books
