This document discusses relative clauses. It defines a clause as a part of a sentence containing a subject and verb. There are two types of clauses: independent clauses which can stand alone as a sentence, and dependent clauses which cannot. Relative clauses are dependent clauses that modify nouns and can be either defining or non-defining. Defining clauses provide essential information about the noun, while non-defining clauses provide non-essential information set off by commas. The document provides examples of defining and non-defining relative clauses and discusses the relative pronouns used to introduce them.

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Relative Clauses
By D. Vargas/ Adapted by N. Valdelomar

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Key Words
Clause
Relative
Defining
Non-defining

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Clauses
• A clause is a part of a sentence.
• A sentence can contain many clauses.
• Each clause has only one main verb.
I love you. One sentence and one clause
I love you, and I will always love you.
I live in London, which is in England.
One
sentence and
two clauses

4. zThere are two types of clauses:
A) Independent Clauses (IC): An independent clause is a group of
words that contains a subject and verb and expresses a complete
thought. An independent clause is a sentence.
Example: The woman wants to buy the house. (IC)
B) Dependent Clauses (DC): A dependent clause is a group of
words that contains a subject and verb but does not express a
complete thought. A dependent clause cannot be a sentence. Often, a
dependent clause is marked by a dependent marker word.
Example: who called yesterday (DC)

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Relative
Clauses
There are two types of adjectival relative clauses:
Nondefining: Commas are used before and after the
nondefining relative clause because the information is not
essential to the identification of the noun that the clause
modifies.
I left my son at the campus daycare center,
which is free to all full-time students.
My new roommate, who is a trained child
nurse, works here.

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Relative
Clauses
Defining: No commas are needed because the
information is relevant to the identification of the
antecedent.
 Students who have young children are
invited to use the free daycare center.
 ≠ Students are invited to use the free daycare
center.
 All of them? Yes
 Even childless students? Yes
 Even those whose children are older than
18? Yes

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Relative Clauses
 We use the relative pronouns “who,” “whom,” “whose,” “which,” and
“that” and the relative adverbs “where,” “when,” and “why” to introduce
adjectival relative clauses.
 The pronouns “who” and “whom” are for people, “which” for things, and
“that” and “whose” for both.
* I lent some money to Sam, whose house was destroyed by the flood.
* The thing that impresses me the most about America is the way parents
obey their children.

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 I was interviewed by the speaker whom I met at the party.

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Practice
 Products try to limit the damage they do to the
environment.
 Which are environmentally friendly
Defining or Non-defining?

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Practice
 Products try to limit the damage they do to the environment.
 Which are environmentally friendly
 Products which are environmentally friendly try to limit the
damage they do to the environment.

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Practice
 People now have different diets.
 Who live in urban areas
Defining or Non-defining?

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Practice
 People now have different diets.
 Who live in urban areas
People who live in urban areas now have different diets.

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Analyze
 People are currently starving.
Is this true in general?
Can we make this sentence more specific and factual?

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Analyze
 People are currently starving.
 People who live in Venezuela are currently starving.

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Analyze
 Organic food is often grown locally.
 Organic food is usually quite expensive.
Write one sentence with a relative clause.

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Analyze
 Organic food is often grown locally.
 Organic food is usually quite expensive.
Organic food, which is usually quite expensive, is often grown locally.

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