Relative clauses – grammar class
When we want to give more information about something in English we often use a
structure called a relative clause. The information we give can either be essential to
understanding the thing we are talking about, or it could be extra, additional information.
Because of this we have two types of relative clause; defining and non-defining.
Let’s start with defining relative clauses. As we said earlier this is a clause that comes directly
after the thing we wish to define and the information in the clause is essential. Have a look
at this example.
“He’s the man.” [Which man?]
“He’s the man who robbed the bank!”
Defining relative clauses can go in the middle or end of a sentence.
“The man who robbed the bank is standing over there.”
So let’s take a closer look at the relative clause itself. In this case we are using the relative
pronoun ‘who’ as the subject of the clause. This is because we are describing a person.
‘Who’ = the man
This table shows the different pronouns that we can use when we are making relative
pronouns.
people → ‘who’ or ‘that’
things → ‘which’ or ‘that’
places → ‘where’
possessions → ‘Whose’
Let’s see some examples.
“The Ozone layer is a layer of gas.” [What does it do?]
“The Ozone layer is a layer of gas which protects us from ultraviolet radiation.”
“The house is over there.” [Which house?]
“The house where I lived as a child is over there.”
“Einstein is a physicist.” [Is that all?]
“Einstein is a physicist whose theory of relativity changed the world.”
Sometimes it is possible for us to omit, or leave out, the relative pronoun. This can be done
when the relative pronoun is the object of the relative clause. Compare these two examples:
“The meal which we ate last night was delicious.”
©Oxford University Press España
“The chef who cooked the meal was French.”
If we look at just the relative clause for a moment in the first case we can see that the
relative pronoun refers to ‘the meal’. ‘The meal’ is the object of the relative clause; ‘we’ is
the subject. If we look at the second relative clause we can see that the relative clause refers
to ‘the chef’, however in this case ‘the chef’ is the subject of the clause. In defining relative
clauses, where the relative pronoun is the object of the clause, that pronoun can be omitted.
The second type of relative clause is a non-defining relative clause. In this case the extra
information is not essential for understanding, it is extra information.
“The film, which was released in 1984, was a huge success at the box-office.”
The sentence would work perfectly well without the relative clause. As with a defining
relative clause, a non-defining relative clause can occur in the middle or end of a sentence.
“My brother, who lives in Berlin, is a published author.”
“Providence is the capital of Rhode Island, which is the smallest state in the US.”
There are some important differences between defining and non-defining relative clauses.
Firstly, a non-defining relative clause is punctuated with commas. A non-defining relative
clause cannot use the pronoun ‘that’ to refer to people or things. Finally, the relative
pronoun can never be omitted in a non-defining relative pronoun.
Please replay this video when you are completing the exercises on relative clauses.
©Oxford University Press España
