Relative clauses (DEFINING CLAUSES)
a) The man who lives next door is very friendly.
(Relative clause)
A clause is a part of a sentence. A relative clause tells us which person or thing
the speaker means:
The man who lives next door... (who lives next door tells us which
man)
We use who in a relative clause when we are talking about people. We use who
insteal of he, she, they:
The man-he lives next door-is very friendly . The man who lives next door is
friendly S Subject
It’s also possible to use That instead of who.
We can also use whom instead of who with a preposition:
The girl with whom he fell in love left him after a few weeks (he fell in love with
her)
_ Prepositions + whom
But in informal (spoken) English we often keep the preposition after the verb in
the relative clauses. This is Mr Carter, who I was telling you about.
b) when we are talking about things, we use that, (or which) in a relative
clause. We use that instead of it/they.
Where are the eggs?- they were in the fridge. Where are the eggs that were
in the fridge? S Subject
In the sentences above who and that are the subjects of the verbs in the
relative clauses. You cannot leave out who or that in these sentences.
The man – I wanted to see him- was away on holiday.
Object
The man who (or that) I wanted to see was away on holiday.
Object
Have you found the keys?- You lost them
Object
Have you found the keys that you lost ?
Object
When who or that are objects of the verb in the relative clause, you can leave
them out.
c) We use whose in relative clauses instead of his/her/their.
We saw some people- their car had broken down
We saw some people whose car had broken down.
d) We use where in a relative clause to talk about places.
The hotel- we stayed there-wasn’t very clean.
The hotel where we stayed wasn’t very clean
e) We use that or when , we refer to the day, the year , the time (etc.) that
something happened:
The last time (that /when) I saw her, she looked very well.
f) You can say the reason why something happens or the reason that
something happens. You can leave tehm out.
The reason (why/that) I’m phoning you is to invite you to a party.
NON_DEFINING RELATIVE CLAUSES.
In these examples, the relative clauses tell us which person or thing the
speaker means:.
The man who lives next door (tells us which man)
The keys (that) you lost (tells us which keys).
But not all relatives clauses are like this. For example:
Tom’s father, who is 78, goes swimming every day.
The house at the end of the street, which has been empty for two
years, has just been sold.
In these examples the relative clauses (who is 78 and which has been
empty for two years) do not tell us which person or thing the speaker
mean. We already know which person or thing is meant: “Tom’s father”
and “The house at the end of the street”.
THE CLAUSES IN THESE SENTENCES GIVE US EXTRA INFORMATION
ABOUT THE PERSON OR THING.
IN THESE RELATIVE CLAUSES , YOU CANNOT REPLACE WHO OR
WHICH BY THAT. YOU CANNOT LEAVE OUT WHO OR WHICH AND YOU
USE COMMAS BEFORE THE EXTRA INFORMATION.
You can also use whose, whom and where in “extra information” relative
clauses.
Martin , whose mother is Spanish, speaks both Spanish and English.
Mr. Hogg is going to Canada, where his son has been living for 5 years.
My sister, whom (or who) you once met, is visiting us next week.
