DEFINING RELATIVE CLAUSES

As the name suggests, these clauses give essential information to define or identify the person or
thing we are talking about. Obviously, this is only necessary if there is more than one person or thing
involved.

Examples

 Dogs that like cats are very unusual.

In this sentence we understand that there are many dogs, but it is clear that we are only talking
about the ones that like cats.

Punctuation

 Commas are not used in defining relative clauses.

Relative pronouns

The following relative pronouns are used in defining relative clauses:

Person Thing Place Time Reason

Subject who/that which/that
Object who/whom/that/ which/that/ where when why
Possessive whose whose

Notes:

1. The relative pronoun stands in place of a noun.

This noun usually appears earlier in the sentence:

The woman who/that spoke at the meeting was very knowledgeable.

Noun, subject of relative verb + rest of relative verb + rest of main clause
main clause pronoun clause
referring to 'the
woman',
subject of
'spoke'
2. Who, whom and which can be replaced by that. This is very common in spoken English.
3. The relative pronoun can be omitted when it is the object of the clause
The woman that the man loved was living in New York.
Noun, subject of main relative verb + rest of relative verb + rest of main clause.
clause pronoun, clause
referring to 'the
woman', object
of 'loved'

(You can usually decide whether a relative pronoun is an object because it is normally followed by
another subject + verb.)
 4. Whose is used for things as well as for people.

Examples

 The man whose car was stolen.

 A tree whose leaves have fallen.

5. Whom is very formal and is only used in written English. You can use who/that, or omit the
pronoun completely :

 The doctor whom/who/that/ I was hoping to see wasn't on duty.

6. That normally follows words like something, anything, everything, nothing, all, and superlatives.

Examples

 There's something that you should know.

 It was the best film that I've ever seen.
 A clown is someone who makes you laugh.
 An elephant is an animal that lives in hot countries.
 The plums that were in the fridge were delicious. I have eaten them.
 Where are the plums (that) I put in the fridge?
 Has anyone seen the book I was reading?
 Nothing that anyone does can replace my lost bag.
 Let's go to a country where the sun always shines.
 They live in the house whose roof is full of holes.

NON-DEFINING RELATIVE CLAUSES

The information in these clauses is not essential. It tells us more about someone or something, but it
does not help us to identify them or it.

Compare:

 Dogs that like cats are very unusual. (This tells us which dogs we are talking about).
 Gorillas, which are large and orignate in Africa, can sometimes be found in zoos. (This gives us
some extra information about gorillas - we are talking about all gorillas, not just one type or
group).
 John's mother, who lives in Scotland, has 6 grandchildren. (We know who John's mother is, and
he only has one. The important information is the number of grandchildren, but the fact that she
lives in Scotland might be followed with the words "by the way" - it is additional information).

Punctuation

Non-defining relative clauses are always separated from the rest of the sentence by commas. The
commas have a similar function to brackets:

 My friend John has just written a best-selling novel. (He went to the same school as me)
 My friend John, who went to the same school as me, has just written a best-selling novel.
 Relative pronouns in non-defining clauses

Person Thing Place

Subject who which

Object who/whom which where
Possessive whose

Notes

 In non-defining clauses, you cannot use 'that' instead of who, whom or which.
 You cannot leave out the relative pronoun, even when it is the object of the verb in the
relative clause:
 He gave me the letter, which was in a blue envelope.
 He gave me the letter, which I read immediately
 The preposition in these clauses can go at the end of the clause, e.g.
 This is Stratford-on-Avon, which you have all heard about.

This pattern is often used in spoken English, but in written or formal English you can also put the
preposition before the pronoun: e.g. Stratford-on-Avon, about which many people have written is
Shakespeare's birthplace.

 Non-defining clauses can be introduced by expressions like all of, many of + relative
pronoun:
Person Thing
all of + whom + which
any of + whom + which
(a) few of + whom + which
both of + whom + which
each of + whom + which
either of + whom + which
half of + whom + which
many of + whom + which
most of + whom + which
much of + whom + which
none of + whom + which
one of + whom + which
two of etc... + whom + which

Examples

 There were a lot of people at the party, many of whom I had known for years.
 He was carrying his belongings, many of which were broken.
  The relative pronoun which at the beginning of a non-defining relative clause, can refer to all the
information contained in the previous part of the sentence, rather than to just one word.
 Chris did really well in his exams, which was a big surprise. (= the fact that he did well in his
exams was a big surprise).
 A socialist and a conservative agreed on the new law, which is most unusual. (= the fact that
they agreed is unusual).

Examples

 My grandmother, who is dead now, came from the North of England.

 I spoke to Fred, who explained the problem.
 The old man looked at the tree, under which he had often sat.
 We stopped at the museum, which we'd never been into.
 She's studying maths, which many people hate.
 I've just met Susan, whose husband works in London.
 He had thousands of books, most of which he had read.

Grammar notes: relative clauses

A relative clause is a part of a sentence beginning with a relative pronoun (although this pronoun can be
omitted in certain cases). For example:

The company where I worked is called International Enterprises Plc.

The man who went into the baker's bought a loaf of bread.
My sister, who lives near London, is coming to visit me soon.

Basic relative pronouns

The relative pronoun you use depends on the thing you're talking about. Generally speaking, the most
basic ones are these:

for people who/that

for things which/that
for places where
for reasons why
for times when
Who, which and that cannot be used indiscriminately. That can only be used in defining relative clauses.

Trickier relative pronouns

Four relative pronouns often seem to confuse people, but they're easy to use too.

WHICH

This can be used to refer to the whole part of the sentence that went before. Usually a pronoun refers to
a noun, but this refers to more. For example:

I've broken my leg, which means I can't walk.

I've still got some money left, which is surprising.

WHOM

This is hardly ever used in spoken English, and not often in written English. It sounds very formal to most
people. If you're going to use it at all, then only use it after prepositions. Even so, there's usually another
less formal way to say the same thing. For example:

The woman to whom he was talking is his sister.

The woman that he was talking to is his sister.

WHOSE

This is used to show possession. It means basically 'of who(m)'. It can always be used for people and
animals, but also for things, though this sometimes sounds strange and it might be better to change the
structure of the sentence unless the thing is made up of people (a team, a city, an organisation). For
example:

My students, whose homework is never done, will fail the exam.

The homework belongs to the students, it's theirs, so possessive.

That dog whose bone you took is going to bite your leg off.
It is - or was - the dog's bone.

The city, whose football team lost the final, never wins anything.
The city's made up of people, so it sounds OK.

WHAT

This can be literally translated to mean 'the thing that' or 'that which'. It is not used anywhere near as
often as 'which' or 'that' and is not used in the same way. For example:

A man's gotta do what a man's gotta do.

I didn't know what he was going to do next.

Non-defining relative clauses

These are the ones that give extra information. They are always written between commas. If you leave
out the relative clause between the commas it still makes sense. For example:

Valencia, which is Spain's third largest city, is on the Mediterranean coast.

We all know Valencia, so this is extra information not needed for understanding.

My parents, who are retired, come to Spain every year.

I've only got one set of parents.

I used to live in London, where I was born and went to school.

Defining relative clauses

These are the ones that give you the information you need to understand the sentence. There are no
commas. If you take the relative clause away, the sentence doesn't make sense. For example:

The team that wins will receive a cup and 1,000 €.

What team?

The man who lives next door is always making a noise.

What man?

Has he told you what he's going to do?

Has he told me what?

Subject and object relative pronouns

The use of who/which/that may depend on whether the pronoun is the subject or the object of the
sentence. For example:

The man who spoke to me told me the story of his life.

He spoke to me, so 'who' is the subject and 'me' is the object.
The man that I spoke to told me the story of his life.
I spoke to him, so 'I' is the subject and 'that' is the object.

When the pronoun is the object it can be left out:

The man I spoke to told me the story of his life.