Defining Relative Clause

“DEFINING RELATIVE
CLAUSES”

June 6, 2016 By Danitza Lazcano F. 2
We use relative clauses to give additional
information about something without
starting another sentence.
By combining sentences with a relative
clause, your text becomes more fluent
and you can avoid repeating certain
words.

How to form a
Defining Relative Clause
Imagine, a girl is talking to Tom.
You want to know who she is and ask
a friend whether he knows her.
You could say:

“A girl is talking to Tom.
Do you know the girl?”
That sounds rather complicated, doesn't
it?
It would be easier with a relative clause:
you put both pieces of information into
one sentence.
Start with the most important thing – you
want to know who the girl is.

“Do you know the girl …”
As your friend cannot know which girl
you are talking about, you need to
put in the additional information –
the girl is talking to Tom.

Use “the girl” only in the first
part of the sentence, in the
second part replace it with the
relative pronoun (for people, use
the relative pronoun “who“). So
the final sentence is:
“Do you know the girl whowho is talking to
Tom?”

In other words...
It is necessary to use relative
pronouns to join two sentences and
at the end we'll have a relative clause.

THE RELATIVE PRONOUNS
The relative pronouns are those words
that help us to join two sentences by
replacing another one.
Let's see them...

The relative pronoun WHO means in
Spanish quién o quiénes.
It is used for people.
Example:
I told you about the woman who lives
next door.

The relative pronoun WHERE
means in Spanish dónde.
It is used for places.
Example:
This is the place where I was born.

The relative pronoun THAT
means in Spanish el cual o qué.
It is used for things or animals.
Example:
He couldn’t read the book that I bought him.

LET'S PRACTICE!!!

Complete with defining relative pronouns.
1. This is the bank ______ I was robbed
yesterday.
2. The boy _____ is in my class was in the
bank at that time.
3. The man _____robbed the bank had two
pistols.
4. He wore a mask _____made him look like
Mickey Mouse.

1. This is the bank where I was robbed
yesterday.
2. The boy who is in my class was in the bank
at that time.
3. The man who robbed the bank had two
pistols.
4. He wore a mask that made him look like
Mickey Mouse.

5. He came with a friend_____ waited outside
in the car.
6. The woman _____gave him the money was
young.
7. The bag _____contained the money was
yellow.
8. The people _____were in the bank were very
frightened.
9. Tocopilla was the place _____ Alexis
Sanchez was born.

5. He came with a friend who waited outside in
the car.
6. The woman who gave him the money was
young.
7. The bag that contained the money was
yellow.
8. The people who were in the bank were very
frightened.
9. Tocopilla was the place where Alexis
Sanchez was born.

10. The woman ______ was crying there
tried to calm herself.
11. The car _____ the bank robbers
escaped in was orange.
12. The San Francisco banks _____ I had my
money fell down .
13. The man ______ drove the car was
nervous.
14. He didn't wait at the traffic lights_____
were red.

10. The woman who was crying there
tried to calm herself.
11. The car that the bank robbers
escaped in was orange.
12. The San Francisco banks where I had my
money fell down .
13. The man who drove the car
was nervous.
14. He didn't wait at the traffic lights that were red.

Material created by
Danitza Lazcano Flores
Teacher of English
Master in Education
and
Educational Counselor

Defining Relative Clause

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