Relative clauses

Defining and non-defining clauses

In the schoolyard

I saw Natalie the other day.

Natalie? The girl who plays the piano?

In the schoolyard

No, thats Natasha. Natalie is the girl who dropped out of college.

In the schoolyard
Shes working in Davidsons now. You know, the shop that sells expensive clothes.

Lets look at the lines more closely

Emma: I saw Natalie the other day. Melanie: Natalie? The girl who plays the piano? Emma: No, thats Natasha. Natalie is the student who dropped out of college. Shes working in Davidsons now. You know, the shop that sells expensive clothes. Clauses printed in red are called relative clauses. They give us more information about the subject or the object of the previous sentence/clause.

Explanation
The relative clauses in this conversation identify which person/thing they are talking about. The clause who plays the piano tells us which girl Melanie means. The clause that sells very expensive clothes tells us which shop Emma means. Relative clauses are usually introduced by pronouns: who, which and that.

WH0
The relative pronoun who refers to people. e.g. The woman who lived here before us is a romantic novelist.

It is also possible to use that when we talk about people especially in informal language. e.g. This is the girl that has eaten all the biscuits.

THAT/WHICH
The relative pronouns that & which refer to things. That is more usual than which, especially in conversation. e.g. The car that won the race looked very futuristic. Which is more formal. e.g. All cells contain DNA which holds genetic information.

WHOSE
WHOSE - refers to things belonging to people. e.g. That was the man whose car was stolen.

Subject/object
Relative pronouns can be either the subject or the object of the relative clause. Examples:
Marco Polo was a merchant who visited China in the 13th century. (subject) Glaciers are rivers of ice which form in cold climates on mountains. (subject) Einstein is a scientist who I admire. (object) This is the poem that I wrote in my first year. (object)

Leaving out the relative pronoun

We can leave out the relative pronoun when it is the object of the relative clause. e.g. Einstein is a scientist I admire. This is the poem I wrote in my first year.

Defining or non-defining relative clauses

As mentioned above, relative clauses give important information about the subject or object. These are called defining clauses. In written language, we sometimes use nondefining clauses which give extra information, which we could leave out, and are separated by commas. That is not used. e.g. John Lennon, who was born in 1940, was a member of the Beatles.

Relative adverbs
We can also use some relative pronouns at the beginning of a relative clause: WHERE refers to a place e.g. We went to a camp where we stayed two years ago. WHEN - refers to a time e.g. Ill never forget the day when I met you.