RELATIVE CLAUSES

We use relative clauses to give additional information about somebody or something without starting another sentence.

That's the boy who phoned me yesterday.

By combining sentences with a relative clause, your text becomes more fluent and you can avoid repeating certain words.

That's the boy. That boy phoned me yesterday.

Look at these two possibilities. Which one would you say?

A girl is talking to Tom. Do you know the girl?Do you know the girl who is talking to Tom?

In the second sentence, the word WHO is used instead of the girl.It's a RELATIVE PRONOUN.

Look at these relative clauses. Can you notice the difference?

1 The boy who phoned you yesterday is my friend.2 That boy, who phoned you yesterday, is my friend.

In sentence #1......there is some important and relevant information about the boy....there are no commas....we don't know who the boy is.

In sentence #2......there is some additional information about the boy....there are commas....we already know who the boy is: that boy.

Now look at these other relative clauses.

1 The girl you've met is my sister.2 Lisa, whom you've met, is my sister.

In sentence #1......there is some important and relevant information about the girl....there are no commas....we don't know who the girl is....the relative pronoun, who, can be omitted.

In sentence #2......there is some additional information about the girl....there are commas....we already know who the girl is: that girl....the relative pronoun, whom, cannot be omited.

There are two types of relative clauses:

We use DEFINING RELATIVE CLAUSES when...

...there is some important and relevant information about the noun.

...there are no commas.

...we define the person or thing we are talking about.

...the relative pronoun can be omitted (if it is not the subject).

We use NON-DEFINING RELATIVE CLAUSES when...

...there is some additional information about the noun.

...the extra information is written using commas.

...we do not define the person or thing we are talking about.

...the relative pronoun cannot be omited.

Now look at these sentences and say if the underlined words are subjects and objects (direct/indirect).

I told you about the woman. The woman lives next door.

Have you seen the book? I've just bought that book.

I was invited by a man. I had never met that man before.

I've seen a house. The house was painted in blue.

Claire is my neighbour. They gave Claire a present.

I told you about the woman. The woman lives next door. subject

Have you seen the book? I've just bought that book. object

I was invited by a man. I had never met that man before. object

I've seen a house. The house was painted in blue. subject

Claire is my neighbour. They gave Claire a present. object

The relative pronoun has the same function as the word it substitutes.

I told you about the woman. The woman lives next door.subject → who (people)

Have you seen the book? I've just bought that book.object → that/which/Ø (thing)

I was invited by a man. I had never met that man before.object → who/Ø (people)

I've seen a house. The house was painted in blue. subject → that/which (thing)

Claire is my neighbour. They gave Claire a present. object → whom (people)

The relative pronoun depends on the type of sentence and the function.

It has the function of... It refers to... DEFINING NON-DEFINING

subjectpeople WHO / THAT WHO

things THAT / WHICH WHICH

direct/indirectobject

peopleTHAT

(preposition +) WHO(M)Ø (+ final preposition)

(preposition +) WHOM

things THAT(preposition +) WHICHØ (+ final preposition)

(preposition +) WHICH

Other relative pronouns

To express possession WHOSE

To refer to a sentence WHICH

When the noun is absent WHAT

Relative adverbs (used instead of “preposition + relative pronoun”)

For places WHERE (= preposition + WHICH)

For times WHEN (= preposition + WHICH)

For reasons WHY (= “the reason” FOR WHICH)

RELATIVE PRONOUNS (A COMPLETE TABLE OF USAGE)

It has the function of... It refers to... DEFINING NON-DEFINING

subjectpeople WHO

things THAT WHICH

direct/indirectobject

people

Ø (+ final preposition)

(preposition +) WHOM

things(preposition +) WHICH

Other relative pronouns

To express possession WHOSE

To refer to a sentence WHICH

When the noun is absent WHAT

Relative adverbs (used instead of “preposition + relative pronoun”)

For places WHERE (= preposition + WHICH)

For times WHEN (= preposition + WHICH)

For reasons WHY (= “the reason” FOR WHICH)

RELATIVE PRONOUNS (A SIMPLIFIED TABLE OF USAGE)

ExamplesDEFINING RELATIVE CLAUSES● The relative pronoun is the subject of the relative clause

and it refers to a person.

The boy who is there is a good friend of mine.Do you know anybody who speaks Chinese?She's talking to the girl who lent her the money.That's the man who showed us the way.

● The relative pronoun is the subject of the relative clauseand it refers to a ”thing” (not a person).

The car that crashed into the building was completely destroyed.We watched a film that had been shot in Malaga.Are these the computers that don't work?That's something which is difficult to understand.

ExamplesDEFINING RELATIVE CLAUSES● The relative pronoun is the direct/indirect object of the relative clause

and has been omitted. → contact clauses

The boy you were talking to is my friend.Do you know the girl they are looking for?She's writing to a person nobody has ever heard of.That's the man she loves.The CD player you bought doesn't work.We've just read the novel they mentioned.Are those the books you were interested in?That's something anybody can do.Who's the person she lives with?

ExamplesNON-DEFINING RELATIVE CLAUSES● The relative pronoun is the subject of the relative clause

and it refers to a person.

John's mother, who lives in Scotland, has 6 grandchildren.He phoned Claire, who had invited him to dinner.That's Mr Hook, who works for my father.Our Geography teather, who comes from Germany, is called Hugo.

● The relative pronoun is the subject of the relative clauseand it refers to a ”thing” (not a person).

Boeing 747 planes, which are built in the US, are very expensive.Elephants, which are very large, can sometimes be found in zoos.Samuel Johnson's house, which is a museum now, is in London. Loch Ness, which is in Scotland, is 37 Km long.

ExamplesNON-DEFINING RELATIVE CLAUSES● The relative pronoun is the direct/indirect object of the relative clause

and it refers to a person.

Jane's sister, whom you met yesterday, has had an accident.We've invited Penny, whom our parents want to know.This is Mrs Brennan, about whom you had asked.These students, with whom I spend many hours, are very clever.

● The relative pronoun is the direct object of the relative clauseand it refers to a ”thing” (not a person).

Horror films, which I usually watch at home, are my favourite.Bears, which people hunt for pleasure, will soon become extinct.My house, around which they've built a garden, is very nice. I've driven Mark's car, of which he is very proud.

ExamplesThe relative pronoun WHOSE is used to express possession:

● In Defining Relative Clauses

He's the man whose car was stolen last week.We've invited a girl whose parents live in Manchester.This is the woman whose husband died last week.The students whose marks were bad will have to study harder.

● In Non-defining Relative Clauses

I'm talking to Cinthia, whose brother is my best friend.Olympia, whose name is Greek, is the capitol of Washington State.That artist, whose work is excellent, was one of the best.

My cousin, whose family lives in France, will soon visit us.

Other interesting things about relative clauses are...

1. Sometimes, they refer to places, times or even reasons.Then they actually function as adverbial clauses.Saturday is the day when they usually play football.That's the house where I was born.Tell me (the reason) why you haven't done the exercise.

In these situations, relative adverbs could be replaced by a “normal” relative pronouns with a preposition in front of them.Saturday is the day on which they usually play football.That's the house in which I was born.Tell me the reason for which you haven't done the exercise.

WHEN / WHERE = IN / ON / AT WHICHWHY = (THE REASON) FOR WHICH

2. When defining relative clauses have a prepositionin front of the pronoun, the pronoun is omittedand the preposition is placed at the end.

Jane is the woman with whom I danced.

That's the school in which I study.

Is this the boy to whom you have been talking?

The book about which you've written is not very interesting.

That's the situation with which I'm fed up.

Look! Here comes the man for whom I was waiting.

2. When defining relative clauses have a prepositionin front of the pronoun, the pronoun is omittedand the preposition is placed at the end.

Jane is the woman with whom I danced.

That's the school in which I study.

Is this the boy to whom you have been talking?

The book about which you've written is not very interesting.

That's the situation with which I'm fed up.

Look! Here comes the man for whom I was waiting.

2. When defining relative clauses have a prepositionin front of the pronoun, the pronoun is omittedand the preposition is placed at the end.

Jane is the woman I danced with.

That's the school I study in.

Is this the boy you have been talking to?

The book you've written about is not very interesting.

That's the situation I'm fed up with.

Look! Here comes the man I was waiting for.

3. The relative pronoun WHICH, may be used to refer to a sentence.

He invited me, which was very kind of him. (which = it)

4. Sometimes, WHAT is used as a relative promoun, when the nounit refers to is not present in the sentence.

What I want to say is that....Something that I want to say is that...

5. Sometimes, subject pronouns and auxiliary verbs are omitted to shorten the sentence and a participle (past or present) is used.

The man reading the newspaper is my friendThe man who is reading the newspaper is my friend

I want nothing bought with your money.I want nothing which has been bought with your money.

PRACTICE

1. Jan is a TV producer. Jan comes from Cuba..

2. Our neighbour loves animals. He has five dogs.

3. Jack's parents are from Bilbao. Jack lives in Huelva.

4. Málaga is a good place to live. I was born there.

Jan is a TV producer who comes from Cuba.Jan, who comes from Cuba, is a TV producer.

Our neighbour, who loves animals, has five dogs.Our neighbour, who has five dogs, loves animals.

Jack, whose parents are from Bilbao, lives in Huelva.

Málaga, where I was born, is a good place to live.

5. She works at a hospital. That's the hospital.

6. I'm revising an exam. The exam's questions were very easy.

7. I like some people. Some people's ideas are brilliant.

8. Jane has lost a book. She's my girl-friend. I gave her a book.

That's the hospital she works at.That's the hospital at which she works.That's the hospital where whe works.

I'm revising an exam whose questions were very easy.

I like people whose ideas are brilliant.

Jane, who is my girl-friend, has lost the book I gave her.

9. I work best late at night. That's the time.

10. You were talking to someone. Who was that person?

11. The sentence is quite easy. You're filling in that sentence.

12. I don't know a word. I'll look it up in a dictionary. You lent it to me.

The time when I work best is late at night.Late at night is the time when I work best.

Who was the person you were talking to?

The sentence you're filling in is quite easy.You're filling in a sentences which/that is quite easy.

I'll look up the word I don't know in the dictionary you lent me.