RELATIVE CLAUSES:��1) DEFINING��2) NON-DEFINING

DEFINING RELATIVE CLAUSES (DR)

SHE LIKES PEOPLE WHO ALWAYS TELL THE TRUTH

​

NON-DEFINING RELATIVE CLAUSES (NDR)

MY FRIEND ANDREW, WHO IS SCOTTISH, PLAYS THE BAGPIPES

DR CLAUSES MORE COMMON IN SPOKEN LANGUAGE

NDR CLAUSES MORE COMMON IN WRITTEN LANGUAGE

DR CLAUSES

• POSSIBLE PRONOUNS

person thing

Subject WHO / THAT THAT / WHICH

Object ----- / THAT ----- / THAT

• RELATIVE PRONOUN: OBJECT

Did you like the present (that) I gave you?

• RELATIVE PRONOUN: SUBJECT

I met a man who works in marketing

NDR CLAUSES

• POSSIBLE PRONOUNS

person thing

Subject WHO WHICH

Object WHO / WHOM WHICH

• RELATIVE PRONOUN CANNOT BE LEFT OUT

Fill in the gaps with a relative pronoun

• The new terminal, ______will be finished by May, has been designed by a famous architect
• Have you finished the book ____ I lent you?
• The Prime Minister, _____ the paparazzi follow everywhere, has a new girlfriend
• I don’t know the man ____ arrived just after you

which

Ø

whom

who

PREPOSITIONS: �DR AND NDR

• Prepositions come at the end in most cases

I can always rely on my friend →

She’s a friend I can always rely on

I went to school with Mary →

This is Mary, who I went to school with

• Prepositions come before the pronoun in a formal written style

She is a friend on whom I can rely

It is a fact with which you cannot argue

OTHER RELATIVE PRONOUNS

WHICH

WHOSE

WHAT

WHY

WHEN

WHERE

WHICH

• Can be used in NDR clauses to refer to the whole of the sentence before

She arrived on time, which amazed everybody

They had everything ready for us, which was nice

WHOSE

• Can be used in both DR and NDR clauses

That’s the woman whose son ran over my dog

My parents, whose only interest is gardening, never go away on holiday

WHAT

• Is used in DR clauses to mean the thing that

Has she told you what’s worrying her?

What you need is love

WHY

• Can be used in DR clauses to mean the reason why

​

I don’t know why we are arguing

WHEN, WHERE

• Can be used in DR and NDR clauses

Tell me when you expect to arrive

We’ll go on Monday, when I’m free

The hotel where we stayed was excellent

He works in Oxford, where my sister lives

AND FINALLY...

REDUCED RELATIVE CLAUSES

• When a DR clause has a continuous or passive verb form, we can leave out who, that, which and the auxiliary

Everyone (who is) living in the area complains about the noise

The first novel (that was) written by Doris Lessing is The Grass Is Singing