RELATIVE CLAUSES

Relative clauses are non-essential parts of a sentence. They may add meaning, but if they are removed, the
sentence will still function grammatically. There are two broad types of relative clauses in English:

1st DEFINING
2nd NON-DEFINING

1ST DEFINING CLAUSES

A defining clause tells us which specific person or thing we are talking about.
Use Who (or that) for people and Which (or that) for things and it comes immediately after the person or
thing it is describing.

The man that/who bought my house is really rich.

Defining relative clause

If a defining relative clause is removed, the meaning of the sentence changes significantly.

The man that/who bought my house is really rich.

The man is really rich. (the man wasn’t defined)

A defining relative clause is not separated from the rest of the sentence by commas or parentheses.

The man, that/who bought my house, is really rich.

The man (that/who bought my house) is really rich.
The man that/who bought my house is really rich.

 The relative pronoun can be the subject of the verb in the relative clause. When it happens, the
relative clause can NEVER be omitted

Subject
Example: The woman who visited me in the hospital was very kind.
Verb
Subject
The man who stole my backpack has been arrested.
Verb

 The relative pronoun can be the object of the verb in the relative clause. When it happens, the
relative clause can be omitted
Object
1
 Example: The weather which we had this summer was beautiful.
The weather which we had this summer was beautiful.
Object

The umbrella that I bought last week is already broken.

The umbrella that I bought last week is already broken.
Object

2ND NON-DEFINING CLAUSES

It can be used for two main reasons

To introduce a comment on the To some extra, non-essential information

whole of the main clause about the person or thing you are talking about

EXAMPLES:

He is going out with Julie, which I can’t stand. (a comment on the whole of the main clause)

He is going out with Julie, who I can’t stand. (a comment or “extra information” about Julie)

PAY ATTENTION

 Use Who for people, Which for things and Whose for possession
 You don’t use THAT with non-defining relative clauses.
 You always use WHICH when introducing a comment on the whole of the main clause.
 Non-defining relative clauses are always set off from the rest of the sentence with commas or
parentheses.

EXAMPLES:
The author, who graduated from the same university I did, gave a wonderful
presentation.
My mother, who is 86, lives in Paris.

If a non-defining relative clause is removed from a sentence, we lose some detail, but the overall meaning of
the sentence remains the same. So they can be omitted
The farmer, whose name was Fred, sold us 10 pounds of potatoes.
The farmer sold us 10 pounds of potatoes. (It keeps the same meaning)