RELATIVE CLAUSES

DEFINING RELATIVE CLAUSE

We use defining relative clauses to add essential information to a sentence. The clause goes immediately after the noun it describes.

“This is the man who sold me the car.”

• We use relative pronouns:
• who, that – for people
• which, that – for objects
• where – for places
• whose – to talk about possession
• when, that – for a time
• why, that – for a reason
• whom – for object pronouns (people)

• He is the man who / that owns this car.
• This is the house where I was born.
• The girl whose party I went to phoned me.

• We can leave out who, which, that, whose, when the clause is the object of a sentence.

​

“The doctor I spoke to told me not to worry.” “The man I saw was very rude.”

“Mr Smith is the teacher my son likes best.”

• We can’t leave out the relative pronoun in a defining relative clause that refers to the subject.

​

“The doctor who treated me told me not to worry.”

“That’s the dog that attacked my children”

• In defining relative clauses why and when, unlike where can be omitted

​

• I'd like to know the reason (why) he decided not to come

​

• BUT! She always had wanted to go to a place

where she could speak her native tongue

NON-DEFINING RELATIVE

CLAUSE

• We use non-defining relative clauses to add non-essential information to a sentence. The clause goes immediately after the noun it describes. If we removed the relative clause, the sentence would still make sense of its own.

​

“Pedro, who is my brother, lives in Astillero.”

• We use commas to separate a no-defining clause from the rest of the sentence.

• We use relative pronouns:
• who – for people
• which – for things
• where – for places
• when – for time
• whose – for possession

​

“Santander, where I live, is a beautiful city.”

“My father, who is sixty four, is going to retire soon.”

• We can’t leave out the relative pronoun in non-defining relative clauses.

​

“John, who is English, helped me write the essay.”

Complete the sentences with a suitable relative pronoun if necessary.

• Is that the book you read last month?
• Is this the film won three Oscars?
• This is the shop they sell Mexican food.

father is a

• Last summer I met a girl famous lawyer.
• An engineer is a person

plans, makes

or repairs things like machines, roads or bridges.

• My neighbour works for a company builds roads.
• This is the town my mother grew up.

Complete the sentences with a suitable relative pronoun if necessary.

• A tin opener is a thing

• Palencia is the city

you open things with. my mother was born. my brother works

• This the company for.

• The stage on the new play was performed was very small.

we saw last

• I didn’t enjoy the film night.
• The sofa on

we were sitting collapsed.

• An air hostess is woman job is to look after people on a plane.
• Here is the book you have been looking for.