defining relative clauses
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DEFINING RELATIVE CLAUSES
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Defining Relative Clauses
DEFINING RELATIVE CLAUSES give info to help identify the person/thing you are talking about.
• The man who you met yesterday was my brother.
• The car which crashed into me belonged to Paul.
Use THAT or WHO when talking about people.
• He was the man that bought my house.
• You are the only person here who knows me.
Use THAT or WHICH when talking about things.
• There was ice cream that Mum had made herself.
• I will tell you the first thing which I can remember.
THAT, WHO, or WHICH can be the subject of the verb in a
relative clause.
• The thing that really surprised me was his attitude.
• The woman who lives next door is very friendly.
• The car which caused the accident drove off.
THAT, WHO, or WHICH can also be the object of the verb in the
relative clause.
• The thing that I really liked about it was its size.
• The woman who you met yesterday lives next door.
• The car which I wanted to buy was not for sale.
Defining Relative Clauses
In formal English, WHOM is used instead of WHO as the object of the verb in the relative clause.
• She was a woman whom I greatly respected.
You can leave out THAT, WHO, or WHICH when they are the object of the verb in the relative clause.
• The woman you met yesterday lives next door.
• The car I wanted to buy was not for sale.
• The thing I really liked about it was its size.
You cannot leave out THAT, WHO, or WHICH when they are the subject of the verb in the relative clause.
EXAMPLE: The woman who lives next door is very friendly.
• WRONG: The woman lives next door is very friendly’.
WARNING:
THE relative pronoun in a relative clause can be the object of a
preposition.
The preposition usually goes at the end of the clause.
• I wanted to do the job which I’d been training for.
• The house that we lived in was huge.
• Angela was the only person I could talk to.• She’s the girl I sang the song for.
You can often omit a relative pronoun that is the object of a
preposition.
The preposition always goes in front of WHOM and in front of WHICH in
formal English.
• These are the people to whom Catherine was referring.
• He was asking questions to which there were no answers.
You use WHOSE in relative clauses to indicate who something belongs to or relates to. You normally use WHOSE for people, not for things.
• A child whose mother had left him was crying loudly.
• We have only told the people whose work is relevant to this project.
Defining Relative Clauses
You can use WHEN, WHERE, and WHY in defining relative clauses after certain nouns.
• Use WHEN after TIME, or time words such as DAY, or YEAR.
• Use WHERE after PLACE or place words such as ROOM or STREET.
• Use WHY after REASON.
Examples:• There had been a time when she hated
all men.• This is the year when profits should
increase.• He showed me the place where they
work.• That was the room where I did my
homework.• There are several reasons why we
can’t do that.
• http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/645/01• www.e-grammar.org/relative-clauses/• www.perfect-english-grammar.com/relative-
clauses-exercise-1.html• www.perfect-english-grammar.com/relative-
clauses-exercise-2.html• www.perfect-english-grammar.com/relative-
clauses-exercise-3.html• www.perfect-english-grammar.com/relative-
clauses-exercise-4.html• www.ego4u.com/en/cram-up/grammar/relative-
clauses/exercises?07
