Relative clauses

2. Relative clauses add extra information to a
sentence by defining a noun. In other words,
they tell us more about people and things.
They are used to make clear which person or
thing we are talking about.
For examples:
 Professor Rajan, who is 58, has just retired.
This is the house which John built.
Marie Curie is the woman that discovered
radium.
There are two types of relative clauses
1. Defining relative
2. Non-defining clauses

3. Defining relative clauses add essential
information to a sentence and the clause cannot be
omitted. If the clause is removed, the sentence will
not make sense and will not have the same
meaning. Defining relative clauses have no
commas.
 For Examples:
 That is the woman who stole my handbag.
 This is the book that I read.
 The car that I drive is a red Mercedes.
 This is the pen which I bought yesterday.

4. Now lets see what happens if we take out the
relative clause:
 That is the woman.
 This is the book.
 The car is a red Mercedes.
 This is the pen.
We now have questions about the noun:
 The woman who what?
 The book that what?
 What car?
 The pen which what?

5.  Non-defining relative clauses are not essential to
the sentence. If the clause is removed, the
sentence still makes sense and has the same
meaning. Non-defining relative clauses do have
commas.
For instances:
 My grandmother, who is 86 years old, is coming
on holiday with us this year.
 My car, which a Mercedes, can reach speeds of
140 km per hour.
 Canberra, which is the capital of Australia,
is located at the northern end of the Australian
Capital Territory

6. If we now take out the non-defining relative
clauses, the main idea of the sentence
remains and the sentence still makes perfect
sense.
 My grandmother is coming on holiday with us
this year. (who is 86 years old)
 My car can reach speeds of 140 km per
hour. (which a Mercedes)
 Canberra is located at the northern end of the
Australian Capital Territory. (which is the
capital of Australia)

7. Person Thing Place Time Reason
Subject
Object
who or that
whom or th
at
which or th
at
which or th
at
where when why
Possessive whose whose

8. The relative pronoun can define the subject or the object of
the verb:
Examples of relative pronoun as subject:
 They’re the people who/that bought our house. (The
people bought our house. The people is the subject.)
 Here are some cells which/that show abnormality. (Some
cells show abnormality. Some cells is the subject.)
Examples of relative pronoun as object:
 They’re the people who/that she met at Jon’s party. (She
met the people. The people is the object.)
 Here are some cells which/that the researcher has
identified. (The researcher has identified some cells. Some
cells is the object.)

9. We use whose as the possessive form of who:
For example: This is George, whose brother went to
school with me.
We sometimes use whom as the object of a verb or
preposition:
For example: This is George, whom you met at our
house last year. (whom is the object of met)
 This is George’s brother, with whom I went to school.
(whom is the object of with)
But nowadays we normally use who:
 This is George, who you met at our house last year.
This is George’s brother, who I went to school with.

10.  https://learnenglish.britishcouncil.org/englis
h-grammar-reference/relative-pronouns-
and-relative-
clauses?page=7&gclid=EAIaIQobChMI_YqQm
9LQ7gIVEDErCh1QOQobEAAYAiAAEgIUP_D_B
wE&gclsrc=aw.ds
 https://dictionary.cambridge.org/grammar/b
ritish-grammar/relative-pronouns
 https://dictionary.cambridge.org/grammar/b
ritish-grammar/relative-clauses-defining-
and-non-defining
 https://grammar.collinsdictionary.com/easy-
learning/relative-pronouns

11. Thank you